Doomsday Cancelled
by singing like blue
Summary: Rose never got sucked into Pete's World, Rose and the Doctor get together, but when their lives seem on a endless euphoria, something happens that will stay with them forever. A series three with Rose, with lots of differences.
1. I

**A/N - **this is my first multi-chapter, so go easy on me

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><p><strong>Doomsday Cancelled<strong>  
><em>a series three with Rose by <span>all we require is everything<span>_

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><p><em> i. doomsday<em>

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><p>It was over. My life has been pulled apart. The Doctor didn't say anything while he hugged me, I didn't think he could ever look me in the eye ever again. But I still loved him, the impossible man. I still cared for him.<p>

I found myself walking over to the wall where the breach closed. I pressed my ear against it and tried to sense her. Back in the other universe, I know she would be doing that too.

All I needed right now was the Doctor, he was there, but I think he was so disgusted that he took away my parents that he couldn't help me. "Let's go home, Rose," was all he said, it was barely a whisper.

He is the only family I have left now. I guess... I'm all alone here in this universe.

* * *

><p>It took him two weeks to find the star.<p>

It was quite poetic that he killed a star just for me. The star that symbolises my last conversation with my mother, the last time I would ever see her. After that conversation, she will be just a memory. It will be sad to say goodbye to Mickey as well, after today, he will hopefully live a better life.

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><p>My mother turned around abruptly and saw me.<p>

"Rose!" Her voice was so ecstatic, I felt sad that I would have to break that euphoria.

"Mum!" I responded in the same happy tones.

"God, you look like a ghost!"

"Doctor, can you fix that?" I turned to the Doctor and he sonic-ed the Tardis.

"That's better," Mum reached out to touch but the Doctor stopped her, "No touch," he said. I turn back to mum.

"How long has it been in your world?" I asked.

"6 months. Yours?" My heart sinks.

"2 weeks." I whisper the words, and don't meet her eyes.

"I will kill that man! Why is it that I always have to take the slow path?"

"I'm sorry, Mum."

She started crying as soon as I said that. "I feel awful. I'll never see your 22nd birthday or any others, and I'll never see you and the Doctor get married!"

"Mum," I said in a whiny voice, "we are not a couple!"

"Sure, Rose."

I looked at the Doctor. He seemed flabbergasted, and I couldn't help but laugh at him. "What?" he said.

"Your face!"

"Oi, how much time do we have left?" my Mum asked. The Doctor stepped in.

"You have two minutes left."

"I will kill you."

"Sure, Jackie, sure."

"Mum, I love you."

"I have something to tell you. Pete and I got married, again, and, I'm pregnant!"

"What?"

"I know! It's a boy! We're gonna call him Tony."

"Mum, wow! That's amazing!"

"And Mickey is the god-father."

"Where is Mickey?"

"Right here."

Mickey stepped into the picture. He looked so much better than I had last saw him, in Canary Wharf. He was wearing different clothes, he'd shaved and he looked altogether so much happier. "I have a girlfriend now, Rose," he said, in answer to my look at him.

"Thirty seconds, Rose," the Doctor said.

"Mum, Mickey, I love you and I will miss you so much." Tears came and I couldn't hold them in.

"I love you too, Rose," Mickey said.

"I love you, Rose, and I will miss you, and Doctor!" The Doctor turned to Jackie.

"Yeah?"

"Take care of Rose."

She faded away, and our time ended.

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><p>Being with the Doctor, it's easy to pick trouble. So when I saw the bride, I knew we were going to have another adventure, there and then.<p>

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><p><strong>AN - **don't favourite/alert this story without reviewing


	2. II

**A/N - **this chapter is a rewrite of the Runaway Bride

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><p><em>ii. the runaway bride<em>

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><p>The Doctor was puzzled as he saw the weird scene in front of him. "What?"<p>

"Who are you?"

"What?"

"Where am I?"

"What?"

"What the hell is this place?"

"What?"

"You can't do that. I wasn't... we're in flight, that's physically impossible. How did-"

"Tell me where I am. I demand that you tell me right now where am I!" The bride was angry (as anyone would be) and looked like she could rip the Doctor to shreds any second.

I stepped up and said "You're in the Tardis."

"The what?"

"The Tardis," the Doctor repeated.

"The what?"

"It's called the Tardis," the Doctor looked really angry now.

"That's not even a proper word. You're just saying things!"

"How did you get in here?" the Doctor asked. As the pair were arguing, I went over to the screen. It showed the outside of the Tardis, and the supernova. I had no idea how the bride got there, but, I knew, we were headed for another adventure.

As I turned around, I saw the bride heading for the Tardis doors. "Doctor!" I yelled.

But, the bride had already opened the doors. I ran after her and saw the look on her face.

"You're in space," I said, "Outer space, and this is the Doctor's spaceship. It's called the Tardis."

"How am I breathing?"

"I'll leave that to the Doctor to answer, I still don't know how it works."

The Doctor walked up and said, "All you need to know is that the Tardis is protecting you."

"Who are you two?" the bride asked.

"I'm Rose, this is the Doctor, you?"

"Donna."

"Human?" asked the Doctor.

"Is that optional?"

"It is with me."

After a sigh, she said, "You're an alien." The Doctor knew it wasn't a question.

"Yeah."

After an awkward pause, she said, "It's freezing with these doors open." The Doctor closed the doors and ran back up to the console. After he saw the tear tracks on my face, he said, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." He nodded and got back to work.

"I don't understand it and I understand everything. This can't happen. There's no way that a human being can lock itself on to the Tardis and transport inside. It must be..." he picked out a tool and looked at Donna's eyes through it. "There's some sort of subatomic connection, something in the temporal field. Maybe something pulling you into alignment with the chorion shell, maybe it's something macro budding your DNA with the inner matrix. Maybe a genetic..." I could see what was going to happen before it happened. Donna slapped the Doctor. I couldn't help but giggle.

"What was that for?" he sounded so shocked.

"GET ME TO THE CHURCH!"

"Right, fine, we don't want you here anyway, don't we Rose? Where is this wedding?"

"St Mary's, Haven Road, Chiswick, London, Earth, The Solar System."

"Right, Chiswick!"

Donna left the Tardis, closely followed by me and the Doctor. "I said St Marys! What kind of Martian are you?"

The Doctor didn't listen to Donna, he just was stroking the Tardis. I felt a big surge of jealousy. "Stop it," I told myself in my head, "You're being stupid."

"There's something wrong with her," the Doctor said, "It's like she's recalibrating. She's digesting. What is it? What have you eaten? What's wrong?" I laughed at him, then I realised, I shouldn't be laughing yet.

"Donna, you've really got to think is there anything that might have caused this?" he said, still in the Tardis, "Anything you might have done? Any sort of alien contacts? I meant have you seen lights in the sky, or did you touch something, like something different? Who are you getting married to? Are you sure he's human? He's not a bit overweight with a zip round his forehead is he?"

But then I realised what was happening. I should have noticed before. It was the exact same thing that I did when I went into the Tardis. Donna realised it was bigger on the inside. She started running for it.

"Doctor!" I cried, before running off to get Donna. When I reached her I said, "Come on Donna, come back to the Tardis."

"No, that box is just to weird. I just want to get married."

The Doctor came up and said, "It's just bigger on the inside, Donna."

"Just?" Donna's face looked really afraid, like she had seen a ghost.

"Not helping," I told him, "Just let me do the talking, human to human." I pulled Donna aside and said, "Look, I know the box is weird, but, I'm just like you. I'm a human, I was born here and all my family..." As soon as I remembered family, I got caught up in a world of sadness and sorrow.

"Well, then you know all I'm going through. Ten past 3, I'm gonna miss it!"

"I've got a mobile, you can call them," I handed her my mobile and she called someone.

"Mum, I'm here, I'm in, hang on, I don't know where I am! Look, there's a telephone booth and a shopping centre, and a A.T.M, but it's definitely Earth, London, whatever. Just pick up the phone!" She hung up after a minute of waiting and handed back the phone. "I'm going to miss it."

I hugged her and said, "Let's find a taxi. We can get you to the wedding as soon as we can."

"Thanks Rose."

"No problem. I know first hand how frustrating it is to cope with the Doctor."

She chuckled and said, "Are you two, you know, an item?"

"Na," then I whispered to her, "I wish." That's the truth. Finally, I've admittedly that I'm in love with the Doctor.

"Oh. Well, hopefully, you can be together in the future."

"Thanks Donna. We should find you that taxi." We walked back to the Doctor. "So, the man you are marrying, what's his name?"

"Lance," she said in a dreamy voice.

"Good luck Lance," the Doctor muttered under his breath.

"That didn't help, Doctor,"

"Sorry. To good an opportunity to miss."

"To hell with you!" Donna finally lost it and ran off. We ran after her.

"Hey!" I tried to flag down a taxi but had no hope. Donna kept getting insults thrown at her.

"Hold on," said the Doctor, and whistled to get a taxi to come and get them. One taxi stopped by them and they jumped in.

"St Marys, Haven Road, Chiswick, hurry up!"

"Sure, but it's double today, love."

"Oh my god, I have no money, you Doctor?"

"Nope, Rose?"

I riffled through my wallet and found... nothing. Shit. "No, nothing, sorry."

We got kicked out of the cab quite quickly and there was a bit of nuisance and we saw the robot Santas from last year. No kidding. Long story short, Donna got another cab... where one of the robot Santas was driving. "Donna!" I screamed and started to run after her, but the Doctor pulled me back.

"Let's go to the TARDIS, yeah?" he asked, and we ran there. He got the TARDIS to fly after the car. "Hold onto that button there," he said, and I held on, while he ran to the door. We flew with the car, and after a while, the Doctor got Donna out. Phew.

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><p>He took the TARDIS to the church where Donna was having her wedding. "They're not here," Donna said, trying not to cry, "where could they be?" I looked around. No red heads for the eye to see.<p>

"Maybe the reception?" I said.

"It's just down the road, let's check."

We started to walk in the direction Donna had pointed out. "Did we miss it?" I asked.

"Yeah."

"Maybe you can book another date. Maybe next Christmas."

"Of course we can."

"Still got the honeymoon," the Doctor said to try and cheer her up.

"It's just a holiday now."

"Yeah. I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault." Donna looked like she meant it.

"Well, that's a change!" The Doctor laughed.

"I wish you had a time machine. Then we could go and get it right!"

I butted in and said, "Yeah, it would be awesome if we did!"

The Doctor reached into his jacket pocket and said, "Here, wear this." It was a ring.

"Oh, don't rub it in," Donna exclaimed.

"It's a Bio-Damper, it will help you so the robots won't see you. With these ring, I thee bio-damp."

"So, come on, robot santas, what are they for?"

"Oh, the basic robo-scavenger," The Doctor replied, "The Father Christmas stuff is just a disguise. Trying to blend in."

"I met them last Christmas."

"Why?" asked Donna, "What happened then?"

The Doctor and I shared glances and then I said, "Great big spaceship, hovering over London, weren't you there?"

"I had a bit of a hangover."

"We spent Christmas over at the Powell Estate. With my mum and my best friend. They're... gone now." The Doctor put his arm around me as we walked along.

"The question is, what do camouflaged robot mercenaries want with you?" The Doctor asked then he reached into one of his jacket pockets to find his sonic screwdriver. "And how did you get inside the Tardis, I don't know. What's your job?" He said using his sonic screwdriver.

"I'm a secretary."

"Weird, I mean you're not special, you're not powerful, you're not connected, you're not clever-"

"Rose, last time he saw your mother, did she punch him in the face? Stop bleeping me!" I laughed as she pushed the Doctor's hand away.

"What kind of secretary?"

I'm at H.C Clements. It's where I met Lance. I was temping," Donna said, lost in her own thoughts, "I mean, it was all posh really. I had spent the last two years at a double glazing firm. Well, I thought, I'm never gonna fit in here, and then he made me a coffee. I mean, that just doesn't happen, nobody makes the secretary coffee. And Lance, he's the head of H.R, he doesn't need to bother with me, but he was nice, he was funny, and it turns out he thought the others were snotty too. So that's how it started, me and him, just one cup of coffee was it."

"When was this?"

"Six months ago."

"A bit quick to get married."

"Well, he insisted. And he nagged and he nagged me and he just wore me down until finally, I just gave in."

"What does H.C Clements do?"

"Oh, security systems, you know, entry codes, ID cards, that sort of thing. If you ask me, that's just a posh name for locksmith."

"Keys..."

"Anyway, enough of my CV. It's time to face the consequences. Oh, this is going to be so shaming." She turned to the Doctor and said, "You can do the explaining, Martian Boy."

"I'm not from Mars."

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><p>We were at the reception now and we walked in, Donna in front.<p>

"You had the reception without me."

Lance came up and said "Donna, where were you?"

"You had the reception without me."

"It was all painful, so why not?"

"Thank you, Nerys."

The Doctor spoke up, "Hi, I'm the Doctor, and this is Rose." I waved at them.

Donna turned to us and said, "They had the reception without me."

"Yes, I can see."

"Well, I got your messages," a woman who looked like Donna's mother said, "I'm on Earth, very funny. Where the hell were you?" And then all hell broke loose, as everyone was talking at once. Then Donna started crying. "Oh," said her mother then she came and gave Donna a hug. Donna turned to us and winked.

"She's good," the Doctor whispered to me.

"Tell me about it."

"Do you want to dance?" the Doctor asked.

"Yeah, okay. The Doctor can dance?" I said, making fun of the time that we met Jack and the Doctor said he could dance.

"Yes, I can, Rose."

We walked over to a spot in the reception area and started dancing.

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><p>"So, H.C Clements, what have you found out?"<p>

"I used someone's phone to check who they are, and you're not gonna like it."

"Who?" I already had a bad feeling about it.

"Torchwood."

"Oh." I felt it was too early to be dealing with Torchwood. "So, what are we going to do?"

"First, lets look at the wedding video."

"Okay."

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><p>"Well, I taped the whole thing," the cameraman said, "They've all had a look. They said, sell it to You've Been Framed, I said more like the news." He played the video. Donna was walking down the aisle when suddenly she screamed and disappeared, leaving only golden dust in the air where she was standing.<p>

"No, can't be, play it again. That looks like Huon particles."

"What's Huon particles?" I asked.

"That's impossible, that's ancient. Huon energy doesn't exist anymore, not for billions of years. So old that... It can't be hidden by a bio-damper!"

We ran over to the windows to find the robot santas had surrounded the hotel. They then ran back to Donna and the Doctor said, "Donna, they've found you."

"But you said I was safe."

"The bio-damper doesn't work," I said.

"We've got to get everyone out," The Doctor said.

"But, they've surrounded the hotel!"

"Good point."

"Oh, God. It's all my family," Donna said.

"Hold on," The Doctor said, "there's something I'm missing, something important."

I looked around and saw a Christmas tree. "Christmas trees..."

The Doctor realised what I was talking about and said, "They kill!"

"GET AWAY FROM THE TREE!"

The Doctor, Donna and I started to clear the area around the tree.

"What are you going on about?" Donna's mother said, "It's only a Christmas tree- Oh."

Christmas baubles were rising into the air, and everyone was in awe. Then, the baubles started coming down on the guests, coming down as bombs. "Can you stop it any way?" I said, my voice sounding unusually calm.

"Yeah, but it won't stop the robots. But, block your ears. Tell everyone you can to block their ears." The Doctor stood up and walked over to the sound system. "Hey Santa! Word of advice: if you're attacking a man with a sonic screwdriver, don't let him near the sound system. Suddenly, a extremely loud sound that sounded like the sonic screwdriver went over the speakers, causing everyone to cover their ears. The noise was so loud that the robots fell apart. The Doctor stopped and walked over to me. "Okay?"

"Yeah." He helped me up and we went to the robots. Donna soon joined us.

"Look at that- the remote control for the decorations! But there's a second remote control for the robots. They're not scavengers any more. I think someone's taken possession."

"Never mind that," Donna said, "You're a doctor - people have been hurt."

"Nah, they wanted you alive, look," he threw her a bauble bomb, "they're not active now."

"All I'm saying, you could help."

"Na, gotta think of the bigger picture." He held the robot head to his ear and said, "There's still a signal!" He ran out the door, me closely following. Outside, he soniced the robot's head.

"There's someone behind this, directing the Robo-Force," he explained as Donna joined them.

"But why is it me, what have I done?" she asked.

"If we find the controller, we'll find that out. Oh!" he pointed the sonic from the head to the sky. "It's up there. Something in the sky."

Donna went to Lance, while I stayed with the Doctor. "You're awfully calm," he said.

"I know."

"Is it an act."

"Not really."

"Rose," he said, looking me in the eye now, "You're mother wanted me to protect you, so here I am. I will always be there for you, even if you don't know it. Please remember that." I nodded and he pulled me into a hug.

After a while, he went back to pinpointing the signal. "Oh no no no no no no no!" he suddenly cried.

"What?" I cried.

"It's gone. I lost the signal. Donna," he shouted, "we've got to get to your office, H C Clements. I think that's where it all started. Lance- is it Lance? Can you give us a lift?"

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><p>H.C Clements. I feel sick already. It's only been two weeks and I am getting into Torchwood's business again. The Doctor looks down at me and sees my look of disgust.<p>

"Rose," he says, "We will beat them this time. I won't let them get you."

"Thanks Doctor, but I still can't exactly like them. They took mum away from me!"

"I know. But, let's just see what's going on."

"Okay."

We walked into the building and into Donna's office. The Doctor goes straight to a computer.

"This might just be a locksmiths, but H.C Clements was brought up twenty-three years ago by the Torchwood Institute."

"Who were they?" Donna asks.

"They were behind the battle of Canary Wharf."

Donna was just silent, like she didn't know what he meant.

"The Cybermen invasion," I say, "Skies over London full of Daleks?"

"I was in Spain."

The Doctor and I exchanged glances. "They had Cybermen in Spain," The Doctor says.

"Scuba diving."

"That big picture, Donna, you keep on missing it. Torchwood was destroyed, but H.C Clements stayed in business. I think someone else came in and took over the operation."

"But what do they want with me?"

The Doctor gave Donna his full attention. "Somehow you've been dosed with Huon energy. And that's a problem because Huon energy hasn't existed since the Dark times. The only place you'd find a Huon particle now is a remnant in the heart of the Tardis. See? That's what happened. Say... that's the Tardis," he says picking up a mug, "And that's you," he says while picking up a pencil. "The particles inside you activated. The two sets of particles magnetised and WHAM!" He throws the pencil in the mug, "You were pulled inside the Tardis."

"I'm a pencil inside a mug?"

"Yes you are. Sums you up. Lance? What was H.C Clements working on? Anything top secret? Special Operations? Do not enter?"

"I don't know, I'm in charge of personnel. I wasn't project manager. Why am I even explaining myself? What the hell are we talking about?"

"They make keys, that's the point," The Doctor said, brushing him off, "And look at this," he says pointing to a 3D plan of the building, "We're on the third floor." He ran to the lift and says, "Underneath reception, there's a basement, yes?" He looks at the controls and says, "Then how come when you look on the lift, there's a button marked 'lower basement'? There's a whole floor which doesn't exist on the official plans. So what's down there, then?

"Are you telling me this building's got a secret floor?" Lance asks.

"No, he's showing you this building's got a secret floor," I say.

"It needs a key," Donna says.

"I don't" The Doctor sonics the lock and steps into the lift. "Right then, thanks you two, Rose and I can handle this, see you later."

"No chance, Martian. You're the man who keeps saving my life, I ain't letting you out of my sight. Lance!"

"Maybe I should go to the police?"

"Inside!"

"To honour and obey?" The Doctor says.

"Being rude again," I point out.

"Tell me about it mate," Lance replies to the doctor.

"OI!"

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><p>"Where are we? Well, what goes on down here?"<p>

"Let's find out..."

We walk along the tunnel. "Do you think Mr. Clements knows about this?"

"The mysterious H.C Clements? I think he's part of it. Ooh, transport!"

There were four identical scooter trundle like things standing near us. The Doctor walked towards them and started to get on one. "Come on you three, we haven't got all day." I ran on and got on one and Donna approached more slower. Lance just stood still.

"Lance, if you can put up with Donna, you can put up with these," The Doctor says.

"OI!"

"Sorry."

We came to a door which said Torchwood. I shiver a bit and are reluctant to get off the scooter. Stop it Rose, I think, you've seen worse than just a door with Torchwood on it. The Doctor opens the door to reveal a ladder. He peers upwards.

"Wait here. Just need to get my bearings. Don't do anything. Donna, make sure Rose doesn't do anything, she has a bad record of running away."

"OI!" It's funny to hear that word come out of my mouth.

"It's true!" He starts up the ladder before I can slap him.

"You'd better come back."

"I couldn't get rid of you, Rose, if I tried."

Lance turns to Donna and says, "Donna, have you thought about this? Properly? I mean, this is serious! What the hell are we going to do?"

Donna turned around to Lance and says, not that interested, "Oh, I thought July."

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><p>"Thames flood barrier! Right on top of us. Torchwood snuck in and built this place underneath."<p>

"What, there's like a secret base hidden underneath a major London landmark?"

"Just like Canary Wharf."

We walked to another door, which housed some kind of laboratory, full of massive test tubes bubbling away and chemistry equipment.

"Oh look at this! Stunning! Particle extrusion!"

"What does it do?"

"Particle extrusion. Hold on," he picks up on of the smaller tubes, "Brilliant. They've been manufacturing Huon particles. In case my people got rid of Huons, they unravelled the atomic structure."

"Your people?" Lance asks, "Who are they? What company do you two represent?"

"Oh, I'm a freelancer. But this lot are rebuilding them. They've been using the river! Extruding them through a flat hydrogen base so they've got the end result- Huon particles in liquid form."

"And that's what's inside Donna?" I ask. The Doctor turns the knob at the top of the tube and Donna lights up.

"Oh my god!"

"Because the particles are inert- they need something living to catalyse inside and that's you. Saturate the body and then... HA!" Donna jumped back in surprise. "The wedding! Yes, you're getting married, that's it! Best day of your life, walking down the aisle, oh, your body's a battleground! There's a chemical war inside! Adrenaline, acetylcholine, wham go the endorphins, oh you're cooking! Yeah, you're like a walking oven! A pressure cooker, a microwave, all churning away, the particles reach boiling point, SHAZAM!"

Donna slapped him.

Reminds me too much of mum.

"What did I do this time?"

"Are you enjoying this?"

The Doctor relaxes and Donna says, "Right, just tell me, these particles, are they dangerous? Am I safe?"

"Yeah!" The Doctor says unconvincingly.

"Doctor, if the Time Lords got rid of Huon particles... why did they do that?" I said.

"Because they were deadly."

"Oh my god!" Donna said.

"I'll sort it out, Donna. Whatever's been done to you, I'll reverse it. I'm not about to lose someone else."

"Oh, she is long since lost!"

"I have waited so long, hibernating at the edge of the universe, until the secret heart was uncovered and called out to waken!"

The doors opened to a huge chamber with a hole right in the middle of it. "Someone's been digging, oh, very Torchwood," I shivered at the name, "Drilled by laser. How far down does it go?"

"Down and down, all the way to the centre of the Earth!"

"Really?" The Doctor asked. "Seriously? What for?"

"Dinosaurs!" Donna said.

"What?" I asked.

"Dinosaurs?"

"What are you on about, dinosaurs?" The Doctor asked.

"That film, under the Earth, with dinosaurs. Trying to help!"

"That's not helping."

"Such a sweet couple."

"Only a madman talks to thin air and trust me, you don't want to make me mad. Where are you?"

"High in the sky, floating so high on Christmas night."

"I didn't come all this way to talk on the intercom! Come on, let's have a look at you!"

"Who are you with such command?"

"I'm the Doctor."

"Prepare your best medicines, doctor-man, for you will be sick at heart!"

Suddenly, a humongous red spider teleported into the chamber. "The Racnoss, but that's impossible, you're one of the Racnoss!"

"Empress of the Racnoss!"

"If you're the Empress, where's the rest of the Racnoss? Or, are you the only one?"

"Such a sharp mind."

"That's it, the last of your kind." The Doctor turned to Donna and me and continued, "The Racnoss come from the Dark times, billions of years ago, billions. They were carnivores, omnivores, they devoured whole planets."

"They eat people?" Donna asked.

"H.C Clements, did he wear those, those, erm, black and white shoes?"

"He did! We used to laugh, we use to call him the fat cat in spats!"

The Doctor nodded and points to a web on the ceiling, where a pair of black and white shoes are hanging. "Oh my god!"

"Mm, my Christmas dinner."

"You shouldn't even exist! Way back in history, the Fledging Empires went to war against the Racnoss, they were wiped out!"

Lance suddenly appears behind the Racnoss with an axe. He motioned for Donna to be silent and steadily moves forward. And I thought he was a little thick.

"Except for me."

"But that's what I've got inside me, that Huon energy thing. Oi! Look at me, lady, I'm talking. Where do I fit in? How come I get all stacked up with these Huon particles? Look at me, you! Look me in the eye and tell me!"

"The bride is so feisty!"

"Yes I am! And I don't know what you are, you big... thing. But a spider's just a spider, and an axe is just an axe! Now, do it!"

Lance holds the axe above his head and the Empress swings around and hisses at him, then he stops. He glances around at Donna and starts to laugh and the Empress laughs with him.

"That was a good one. Your face!"

"Lance is funny!"

Oh.

"What?"

"I'm sorry." I say.

"Sorry for what? Lance don't be so stupid! Get her!"

"God, she's thick!" Lance says. "Months I had to put up with her. Months! A woman who can't even point to Germany on a map."

"I don't understand."

"How did you meet him?" I ask, reassuringly.

"In the office."

"He made you coffee." The Doctor said.

"What?"

"Everyday," Lance said, as though he was addressing an idiot, "I made you coffee."

"You had to be dosed with liquid particles over six months." The Doctor said.

"He was poisoning me?"

"It was all there in the job title- the Head of Human Resources."

"This time, it's personnel!" He says making a joke out of it. He and the Empress laugh.

"But, we were getting married."

"Well, I couldn't risk you running off. I had to say yes. And then I was stuck with a woman who thinks the height of excitement is a new flavour Pringle. Oh, I had to sit there and listen to all that yap yap yap, "oh, Brad and Angelina; is Posh pregnant?" X Factor, Atkins Diet, Feng Shui, split ends, text me, text me, text me, dear God, the never ending fountain of fat, stupid trivia. I deserve a medal."

"Oh, is that what she's offered you?" I say, "The Empress of the Racnoss? What are you? Her consort?"

"It's better than a night with her."

"But, I love you!"

"That's what made it easy. It's like you said, Doctor, the big picture, what's the point of it all if the human race is nothing? That's what the Empress can give me. The chance to go out there. To see it. The size of it all. I think you understand that, don't you, Doctor?"

"Who is this little physician?"

"What she said, Martian."

"Oh, I'm sort of, homeless. But the point is, what's down here? The Racnoss are extinct. What's gonna help you four thousand miles down? That's just the molten core of the Earth, isn't it?"

"I think he wants us to talk." Lance said, mockingly.

"I think so too."

"Well tough! All we need is Donna!"

"Kill this chattering little Doctor-man and his pink and yellow companion!"

"Don't you hurt them!" Donna says while stepping in front of us.

"No, no, it's all right."

"No, I won't let them!"

"At arms!" Dozens of robots on the edges of the walls point their guns at us.

"Ah, now. Except-"

"Take aim!"

"Well, I just want to point out the obvious-"

"They won't hit the bride. They're such very good shots."

"Just, just, hold on, just a tick, just a tiny, just a little tick. If you think about it, the particles activated in Donna and drew her inside my spaceship. So, reverse it, the spaceship comes to her." The Doctor turned the knob on the tube of Huon particles and suddenly, we were in the Tardis.

"Off we go!"

"Oh, you know what Rose said before about having a time machine. Well, we have one. And now, we're going to use it. We need to find out what the Empress of the Racnoss is digging up. If something's buried at the planet core, it must've been there since the beginning. That's just brilliant. Molto bene! I've always wanted to see this. Rose, we're going further back than we've ever been before."

Donna was sitting on the captain's chair silently crying, with me comforting her. "It's okay," I say, "It's all going to be okay."

"We're arrived, want to see Donna?"

"I suppose."

"Oh, that scanner's a bit small. Maybe your way's best. Come on." I walk to the door and Donna comes with me. "No human's ever seen this. You two will be the first!"

"All I want to see is my bed.

"Rose Tyler, Donna Noble- welcome to the creation of the Earth." He opened the doors to a magnificent sight. There was rock everywhere and colourful gases all around the sky. "It's beautiful!"

"We've gone back 4.6 billion years. There's no solar system, not yet. Only dust and rocks and gas. That's the Sun over there, brand new. Just beginning to burn.

"Where's the Earth?" Donna asked.

"All around us, in the dust."

"Puts the wedding into perspective. Lance was right. We're just... tiny!"

"No, but that's what you do! The human race. Making sense out of chaos. Marking it out with weddings and Christmas and calendars. This whole process is beautiful, but only it it's being observed."

"So, Donna and I came out of all this?"

"Isn't that brilliant?" A massive chunk of rock floats past the Tardis. "I think that's the Isle of Wight." Donna jokes. The Doctor and I laugh.

"Eventually gravity takes hold. Say, one big rock, heavier than the others, starts to pull other rocks towards it. All the dust and gas and elements get pulled in, everything, piling in until you get the-"

"Earth," I say, interrupting him.

"But the question is, what was that first rock?" Right on queue, a star shaped rock emerges through the gas clouds. "Look!" I say.

"The Racnoss." The Doctor rushes back to the console. "Hold on, the Racnoss are hiding from the war! What's it doing?" Suddenly, all the rocks and dust and gas are all zooming towards the Racnoss's ship. "Exactly what you said." Donna replies. The Doctor runs back to the door.

"Oh, they didn't just bury something at the centre of the Earth, they became the centre of the Earth. The first rock."

The Tardis suddenly shudders violently and we are nearly knocked off our feet. "What's was that? What's wrong with her?" I ask.

"Trouble!"

"What the hell is it doing?"

"Remember that little trick I pulled, particles pulling particles. It works in reverse, they're pulling us back!"

"Well, can't you stop it? Hasn't it got a handbrake? Can't you reverse or warp or beam or something?"

"Backseat driver. Oh! Wait a minute!" He gets the extrapolator from underneath the console. "The extrapolator! Good old Jack. Can't stop us, but it should give us a good bump! Now!"

We land in one of the Torchwood corridors. "We're about 200 yards to the right. Come on!" We run down the corridor until we reach the door that has the ladder leading up to the Thames.

"But what do we do?"

"I don't know! I make it up as I go along! But trust me, I've got a history." He grabs his stethoscope and puts it against the door, listening for something.

"But I still don't understand. I'm full of particles, but what for?"

"There's a Racnoss web at the centre of the Earth, but my people unravelled their power source. The Huon particles ceased to exist but the Racnoss are stuck. They've just been in hibernation for billions of years. Frozen. Dead. Kaput! So you're the new key. Brand new particles, living particles! They need you to open it and you have never been so quiet!"

I turn around to find that Donna isn't there. "Donna!"

"We'll find her later, I need to get this door open." He opens the door to find two robots waiting. He sonics them and they fall to the ground. "Good one!" I say.

"Put on the cloak and the mask. We need to find Donna."

* * *

><p>"This isn't going to work!" I tell the Doctor.<p>

"I don't need it to."

We walk up some stairs and across a platform. Donna is hanging from the ceiling in a web while the Empress talks to her. "My children are climbing towards me and none shall stop them!" She then turns to us and says, "So you might as well unmask, my clever little doctor-man and his puny human."

We tear the cloak and the mask off. "Oh well, nice try. I've got you Donna." He sonics the web and it starts to loosen and tear.

"I'm gonna fall!"

"You're gonna swing!"

"And it's not gonna work!" I say. Donna swings towards us.

"I've got ya!" The Doctor says, but Donna goes right underneath us. "Told ya." I point out.

"Oh. Sorry."

"Thanks for nothing."

"The doctor-man amuses me."

"Empress of the Racnoss, I give you one last chance. I can find you a planet. I can find you a place in the universe to coexist. Take that offer and end this now."

"These men are so funny."

"What's your answer?"

"Oh, I'm afraid I have to decline." She laughs and the Doctor says, "What happens next is your own doing."

"I'll show you what happens next. At arms!" The robots raise their guns. "Take aim, and-"

"Relax." All the robots go limp.

"What did you do?" Donna asks.

"Guess what I've got, Donna? Pockets."

"How did that fit in there?"

"They're bigger on the inside."

"Robo-forms are not necessary. My children may feast of Martian flesh."

"Oh, but I'm not from Mars."

"Then where?"

"My home planet is long since gone. But it's name lives on. Gallifrey."

The Racnoss suddenly becomes full of anger. "They murdered the Racnoss!"

"I warned you. You did this." He produces a handful of baubles and throws them into the air. Some surround the Empress and some smash into the walls of the corridor, destroying them and letting water from the Thames rush through in torrents. Another bauble explodes causing a fire at the Empress' feet. She wails as water floods into the chamber and down the hole.

"My children!" The Empress screams. "No! My children! My children!" The Doctor stood still in silence, looking like he didn't want to leave.

"Doctor! You can stop now!" I scream.

He finally gets out of his trance and says, "Come on! Time I got you two out!" As we leave, the Empress says "Transport me!" and she disappears.

* * *

><p>We climb up the ladder. "But what about the Empress?" Donna asks.<p>

"She's used up all her Huon energy, she's defenceless!"

"Just, there's one problem." I say.

"What that?"

"We've drained the Thames!"

* * *

><p>"There you go. Told you she'd be all right. She can survive anything!"<p>

We're on Chiswick Street near Donna's house. "More than I've done." Donna says.

"Nope! All the Huon particles have gone. No damage, you're fine."

"Yeah, but apart from that... I missed my wedding, lost my job and became a widow on the same day. Sort of."

"I couldn't save him."

"He deserved it..." Donna says unfeelingly then she changes her mind. "No, he didn't... I'd better get inside. They'll be worried."

"Best Christmas present they could have." We watch as Donna's parents embrace each other.

"Oh no, I forget, you hate Christmas."

"Yes, I do."

"Even if it snows?" The Doctor sonics the Tardis and a ball of light shoots out of the top and explodes like a firework in the sky into softly falling snow. I laugh with delight.

"I can't believe you can do that!" I say.

"Oh, basic atmospheric excitation." The Doctor looks down at me and grins.

"Merry Christmas you two." Donna says.

"And you too. So... what will you do with yourself now?"

"Not getting married for starters. And I'm not gonna temp any more. I dunno... travel, see a bit more of planet Earth, walk in the dust. Just, go out there and do something."

"Well you could come with us, if it's fine with the Doctor."

"No."

"Okay."

"I can't..."

"No, that's fine."

"No, but really, everything we did today, do you live your life like that?"

"Not all the time."

"I think you do. And I couldn't"

"But you've seen it out there. It's beautiful."

"And it's terrible. That place was flooding and burning and they were dying and you two stood there like, I don't know, strangers. And then you made it snow, I mean, you scared me to death!"

After a short silence, the Doctor said, "Well then."

"Tell you what I will do though, Christmas dinner. Oh, come on!"

"We don't do that sort of thing."

"You did it last year, you two said so. And you might as well because Mum always cooks enough for twenty."

"Sorry Donna, but this year, we, we just want to be alone."

"Is this goodbye then? Will I see you again?"

"If we're lucky."

"Goodbye Doctor, Rose. Take care of yourselves."

"Goodbye Donna."

We step into the Tardis and fly away.

* * *

><p><strong>AN - **don't favourite/alert this story without reviewing


	3. III

_ii. the apartment_

* * *

><p>The Tardis was in the time vortex when I woke up. I got up and had breakfast in the kitchen, which the Tardis nicely made for me. The Doctor and I planned to get the rest of my stuff from the apartment. One of mum's friends, Pam, was going to sell the house for us. I asked her to keep the money, but she said no. I mean, the Doctor and I don't need money. I probably would never use it.<p>

When I finished, I had a shower, got dressed and got ready for the day. I figured the Doctor would be in the console room, so I went in there. Sure enough, the Doctor was messing around with the Tardis, again! He saw me come in and said, "Well then, the Powell Estate, London, England, Earth." He stood up and ran around the Tardis, pushing buttons and flicking levers.

When he finished, the Tardis stopped moving. We stepped out to find the apartment. "Rose," The Doctor said, "We don't need to do this."

"Look, I'm not going to get everything, I don't even want most of this stuff. We've got a lounge, many actually, we've got how many tvs, we've got all the kitchen equipment in the world and we've got too many computers. I'm just gonna get my clothes and stuff and we will get out of here." The Doctor nodded and I went to my room.

* * *

><p>After about half an hour, I took the rest of my clothes into the Tardis. I lied to the Doctor. I actually really wanted to keep most of the furniture. It reminded me of mum. So, instead, I just got some of her clothes and things. I put them somewhere the Doctor couldn't reach, so he couldn't judge me. I went back into the apartment and muttered under my breath, "Goodbye." I walked back in the Tardis and told the Doctor that we could go. He set the Tardis controls for somewhere. "Lets get dinner somewhere." he said, "You need cheering up."<p>

* * *

><p><em>3 months later<em>

* * *

><p>"Run!" the Doctor said. The Autons were chasing us back to the Tardis. Apparently, they wanted it to go and get back to Earth and destroy the planet.<p>

We ran into the Tardis. "Learned your lesson about telling aliens about us having a time machine, Rose?" Damn.

* * *

><p><em>2 weeks later<em>

* * *

><p>"Why are we going to the Royal Hope Hospital?"<p>

"I found something that shouldn't be there. Something alien. I'll tell you inside. I'm just going to act as a patient, 'kay?"

"So, we're going undercover?"

"Basically, yeah."

"Okay."

* * *

><p><strong>AN - **don't favourite/alert this story without reviewing


	4. IV

_iv. smith, jones and tyler_

* * *

><p>"Are you sure about this? This is a human hospital. It's not exactly for aliens with two hearts."<p>

"Rose, we've battled Daleks and Cybermen and Slitheen and who knows how many other aliens and you're worried about a hospital."

"We've had a track record of causing trouble at hospitals."

"Good point. But, I'm not going to make trouble again."

"We're not here for a check-up. Of course we're going to cause trouble!"

"This hospital doesn't have cats and Cassandra."

"Or gas mask dummies and ex-time agents."

We laughed as we walked into the hospital. "Oi, stop it, they're going to think you're faking the sickness."

"I am." We walked up to the reception and the receptionist said, "Hello, how can we help you?"

"Hi, this is my friend, John Smith."

"I'm hurting down here."

He sounded like a school child and it didn't sound like him. "Okay," the receptionist said, "We'll get you in for a check-up. Just down that hallway and turn right."

"Thank you."

We walked down there and I said, "Too dumb, don't you think?"

"Just blending in with the local humans around here."

"Oi!"

"I didn't mean you."

"Good."

* * *

><p>"Doctor, it's 10 o'clock. Stop adjusting your sonic."<p>

"But I'm bored!" The Doctor wriggled around in the bed like a little child.

"If you're bored, go to sleep, like I'm trying to do, but you're stopping me!"

"You can go back to the Tardis if you want?"

"No way. Don't want you looking around in the middle of the night, scaring all the nurses half to death."

"Your choice, not mine."

* * *

><p>A group of students started coming our way. "Now then, Mr Smith," said the leader of the party, "a very good morning to you and your friend. How are you today?"<p>

"Aw, not so bad, still a bit, you know, blah."

"John Smith, admitted yesterday with severe abdominal pains. Jones, why don't you see what you can find? Amaze me."

A girl stepped forward and said to the Doctor, "That wasn't very clever, running around outside, was it?"

"What?" I replied.

"Sorry?"

"On Chancery Street this morning. You came up to me and took your tie off."

"Really? What did I do that for?"

"I don't know, you just did."

"He hasn't gotten out of this bed the whole morning," I said, "Well, at least I think he hasn't."

"Well, that's weird, cause it looked like you. Have you got a brother?"

"No, not anymore."

The man who was leading the party of students said, "As time passes and I grow ever more weary, Miss Jones."

"Sorry. Right." The girl took out her stethoscope and put it to the Doctor's chest, and looked puzzled. She moved the stethoscope to the other heart, and the Doctor winks at her. Now, this is why we shouldn't of gone undercover.

"I weep for further generations. Are you having trouble locating the heart, Miss Jones?"

"Um, I don't know. Stomach cramps?

"That is a symptom, not a diagnosis. And you rather failed basic techniques by not consulting first with the patient's chart." He picks up the chart, receives an electric shock, and drops it.

"That happened to me this morning." The girl said.

"I had the same thing on the door handle," said one of the students.

"And me, on the lift," another of the students said.

"That's only to be expected. There's a thunderstorm moving in and lightning is a form of static electricity, as was first proven by, anyone?"

"Benjamin Franklin!" The Doctor said like a school kid.

"Correct!"

"My mate Ben, that was a day and a half. I got rope burns off that kite, then I got soaked.

"Quite..."

"And then I got electrocuted!"

"Moving on. I think perhaps a visit from psychiatric. And next we have Mrs Taylor, how are you doing?"

"Good one!" I nudged him.

"What?"

"They think you're a loony now."

"Why?"

"You started talking like a nerd. A time-travelling, alien nerd."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

* * *

><p>"Doctor?" The Doctor was adjusting his sonic, again.<p>

"Yep?"

"The rain."

"What about it?"

"It's raining up."

He looked at the rain and said, "Oh no. Hold on tight to something!"

"What?"

"Anything!"

I grabbed a chair and sat on it. Suddenly, the hospital started shaking, but after half a minute or so, it stopped. There was no change, until I looked at the window. "Doctor." I started. We walked over to the window. "We're on the moon."

* * *

><p>The student from before came into the room. "All right, everyone back to bed, we've got an emergency, but we'll sort it out." She walked over to one of the windows. "It's real. It's really real. Hold on!" She started to open the window.<p>

"Don't!" said the other student accompanying her, "We'll lose all the air!"

"But they're not exactly air tight. If the air was going to get sucked out it would have happened straight away, but it didn't. So how come?"

The Doctor suddenly stepped away from our window. "Very good point! Brilliant, in fact. What was your name?"

"Martha," she replied.

"And it was Jones, wasn't it?" She nodded. "Well then, Martha Jones, Rose Tyler, the question is, how are we still breathing?"

The other student said, "We can't be!"

"Well, obviously we are so don't waste my time. Martha, what have we got? Is there a balcony on this floor, or a veranda, or...?"

"By the patients lounge, yeah."

"Fancy going out?"

"Okay."

"We might die."

"We might not."

"Good! C'mon, Rose, Martha."

* * *

><p>We ran to the patients lounge where there was a door leading to the balcony. We push open the doors together. And I can breathe.<p>

"We've got air! How does that work?"

"Just be glad it does," I say.

"I've got a party tonight. It's my brother's twenty-first. My mother's going to be really, really..."

"You okay?" I ask.

"Yeah."

"Sure?"

"Yeah."

"Want to go back in?"

"No way. I mean, we could die any minute, but all the same, it's beautiful."

"You think?"

"How many people want to go to the moon? And here we are!"

"Standing in the earth light."

"What do you think happened?"

"What do you think?" The Doctor asks.

"Extra-Terrestial. It's got to be. I don't know, a few years ago that would have sounded mad, but these days? That spaceship flying into the Big Ben, Christmas, those Cybermen things. I had a cousin. Adeola. She worked at Canary Wharf. She never came home."

"I'm sorry," I say.

"Yeah. Thanks."

"We were there. In the battle."

"I promise you two, we will find a way out. If we can travel to the moon, then we can travel back. There's got to be a way."

"We're not patients, you don't need to talk to us like that."

"Who are you, then?"

"I'm the Doctor, this is Rose."

"What is it then, Doctor Smith?"

"Just the Doctor."

"How do you mean, just the Doctor?"

"Don't worry," I say, "Nobody knows his real name. I don't."

"Well, I'm not calling him that. As far as I'm concerned, you've got to earn that title."

"Well, I'd better make a start then. Let's have a look." He picks up a pebble and throws it. Instead of just falling onto the moon's ground, it rebounds against a sort of force field you'd see in Star Trek. "There must be some sort of force field keeping the air in."

"If that's like a bubble sealing us in, that means this is the only air we've got."

"How many people in this hospital?"

"I don't know, a thousand?"

"One thousand people. Suffocating."

"Why would anyone do that?"

"Heads up! Ask them yourself."

Suddenly, about a dozen ships land on the moon right in front of the hospital. Some aliens come out of the ships and march towards the hospital.

"Aliens. That's aliens. Real, proper aliens."

"Judoon."

"What do we do, Doctor?" I ask.

"Let's get to the reception."

* * *

><p>We get to the reception just as the Judoon start shining lights in the patients and employees faces. As they do so, they say "human" and marks a cross on the back of the right hand of the people.<p>

"Oh, look down there, you've got a little shop. I like a little shop!"

"Never mind that!" I say, "What are the Judoon? They just look like rhinos to me."

"Galactic police. Well, police for hire. More like interplanetary thugs."

"And they brought us to the moon?"

"Neutral territory. According to galactic law, they've got no jurisdiction over the Earth, and they isolated us. That rain? Lightning? That was them, using a H2O scoop."

"What's that about galactic law?" Martha said. "Where'd you get that from? If they're police, are we under arrest? Are we trespassing on the moon or something?"

"No, but I like that. Good thinking. No, it's more simple. They're making a catalogue, it means they're after something non-human, which is very bad news for me."

"Why?" Martha asks. The Doctor looks at her. "Oh, you're kidding me. Don't be ridiculous. Stop looking at me like that."

"The alien would have to look human if they can't just look and see if we're human. So, is it a Time Lord?" I ask.

"Good thinking, but Time Lords aren't the only ones who look like humanoid aliens. Come on."

* * *

><p>The Doctor and I enter an office while Martha stands guard. He starts sonicing the computer in the room.<p>

"They've reached the third floor. What's that thing?" Martha says as she walks into the room.

"Sonic screwdriver."

"Well, if you're not going to answer me properly!"

"No, really, it is. It's a screwdriver, and it's sonic. Look."

"What else have you got? A laser spanner?"

"I did, but it was stolen by Emily Pankhurst, cheeky woman." He suddenly hits the computer. "Oh, this computer! The Judoon must have locked it down. Judoon platoon upon the moon. Cause I was just travelling past, I swear, we weren't just wandering for trouble, honestly, we weren't, but I noticed these plasma coils around the hospital, and that lightning, that's plasma coils, been building up for two days now, so we checked, Rose and I. I thought something was going on inside, it turns out the plasma coils were the Judoon up above."

"But what were they looking for?" I asked, before Martha could butt in. She was starting to get on my nerves.

"Something that looks human, but isn't."

"Like you. Apparently." Martha remarked.

"Like me. But not me."

"Haven't they got a photo?"

"Might be a shape-changer."

"Whatever it is, can't you just leave the Judoon to find it?"

"If they declare the hospital guilty of harbouring a fugitive, they'll sentence it to execution."

"All of us?" I ask, "We're trying to stop this mess. The people are terrified!"

"Oh yes. If I can find this thing first... Oh! Just that they're thick! Judoon are thick! They are completely thick! They wiped the records. Oh, that's clever."

"What are we looking for?" I ask.

"I don't know. Any patient admitted in the past week with unusual symptoms. Maybe there's a back up."

"Just keep working." Martha says. "I'll go ask Mr Stoker, he might know."

"I'll come with you. I'm no use to nerd here."

"Oi!"

* * *

><p>"I've restored the back up." We meet the Doctor in the corridor.<p>

"We've found her."

"You what?" He suddenly sees the leather guys. "Run!"

We run across the corridor, down the stairs, and narrowly miss the Judoon by going in a door leading into another corridor. We run into a room marked 'Radiology' and the Doctor sonic-locks the door. "When I say now, press the button."

"I don't know which one." I say.

"Find out!"

He starts sonicing some of the machinery. I head for the Operator's Manual. After about 5 seconds of reading, the leather guy broke down the door.

"Now!"

I hit a big yellow button just before Martha and one of the machines zaps the leather guy alien thing with radiation, his skeleton visible. The Slab falls inert.

"What did you do?" I say.

"Increased the radiation by five thousand percent. Killed him dead."

"Isn't it likely to kill you?" Martha says.

"Nah, it's only radiation. We used to play with roentgen bricks in the nursery." I laugh at that. "It's safe for you to come out, I've absorbed it all. All I need to do is expel it." He starts bouncing and hopping. "If I concentrate I can shake the radiation out of my body and into one spot. It's in my left shoe. Here we go, here we go, easy does it..." He shakes his foot like a maniac. "Out, out, out, out, out, out, out, ah, ah, ah, ah. It is, it is, it is, it is, it is hot. Ah, hold on." He throws his shoe in the bin. "Done!" I start giggling uncontrollably.

"You're completely mad. Both of you."

"You're right. I look daft with one shoe." He takes the other shoe off. "Barefoot on the moon!" I giggle even more.

"So what is that thing? And where's it from? The planet Zovirax?"

"It's just a Slab. They're called Slabs. Basic slave drones, see? Solid leather, all the way through. Someone has got one hell of a fetish.:

"It came with that woman, Mrs Finnegan. It was working for her. Just like a servant."

"They were in the room when-" The Doctor interrupted me by saying, "My sonic screwdriver."

"Oh my god." The screwdriver was a mess. It was all charcoaled with wires coming out of it.

"She was one of the patients, but-"

"My sonic screwdriver!"

"She had a straw like some kind of vampire!"

"I love my sonic screwdriver!"

"Doctor!"

"Sorry." He tosses the sonic and says, "You called me Doctor!"

"Anyway! Mrs Finnegan is the alien."

"She was drinking Mr Stoker's blood."

"Funny time to take a snack. You'd think she'd be hiding. Unless, no. Yes! That's it, wait a minute. Yes! Shape-changer. Internal shape-changer. She wasn't drinking blood, she was assimilating it! If she can assimilate Mr Stoker's blood, mimic the morphology, she can register as human. We've got to find her and show the Judoon. Come on!" He runs out of the room with Martha and I close on his heel.

"Does he always run off like this?" Martha asks.

"Always."

* * *

><p>A Slab walks past us and down the corridor. "That's the thing about Slabs. They always travel in pairs."<p>

"What about you two?"

"What about us two what?"

"Are you always like this? Superheroes coming to save the day? If you're an alien then how did you get here."

"Uh. Humans. We're stuck on the moon running out of air with Judoon and a bloodsucking criminal, and you're asking personal questions. Come on."

"I like that. "Humans." I'm still not convinced you're an alien."

We suddenly step in front of a Judoon, and he shines his light on the Doctor's face. "Non-human."

"Oh my god, you really are!"

"Told ya." I butt in.

"And again!" We run off, dodging lasers as we go.

"They've done this floor. Come on. The Judoon are logical and just a little bit thick. They won't go back to check a floor they've checked already. If we're lucky."

"Well, that's great," Martha says, "If we're lucky." I just ignore her even though I want to give her a snide comment back. "How much oxygen is there?" she says to her student friend.

"Not enough for all these people. We're going to run out." After hearing that, the Doctor comes up to me. "How are you feeling? Are you all right?"

"Fine. I'm breathing normally."

"Okay, that's good. Martha?"

"I'm running on adrenaline."

"Welcome to my world."

"What about the Judoon?" I ask.

"Ah, great big lung reserves, it won't slow them down. Where's Mr Stoker's office?"

"It's this way." I point to the office and the Doctor walks towards it, with Martha and I on his heels.

"She's gone!" Martha says when we enter. "She was here!" She notices Mr Stoker and stops talking.

"Oh my god, Doctor? Is that Mr Stoker?" I ask.

"Drained him dry. Every last drop. I was right. She's a plasmavore."

"What was she doing on Earth?" Martha asks.

"Hiding. On the run. Like Ronald Biggs in Rio de Janeiro. What's she doing now? She's still not safe. The Judoon could execute us all. Come on."

"Wait a minute." Martha says. She bends down next to Mr Stoker and closes his eyes. As if embarrassed, she leaves abruptedly.

"Think, think, think. If I was a plasmavore surrounded by police, what would I do?"

"Get a blood donor?" I joke.

"Good one, but no." He suddenly sees the MRI sign. "Aah. She's as clever as me. Almost."

"Find the non-human. Execute." The Judoon suddenly open a door and march down the hallway.

"Rose. Stay here. I need time. You're going to have to hold them up."

"How do I do that?"

"With any other woman, this would mean nothing. Honestly, nothing. But, with you, it's different." He bends down, and kisses me. Passionately.

Yep. You heard right. The Doctor. Kissing me. Passionately.

* * *

><p>"Find the non-human. Execute." The Judoon walk towards Martha. "Human," they say after scanning her with a blue light, like they did with all the others.<p>

"Thanks." Martha says sarcastically. They march towards me next. "Now listen. I know who you're looking for. I've found the alien. She's this woman. She's acting as a patient. Please listen to me." Great. I'm pleading now.

"Human. With non-human traits suspected. Non-human element confirmed. Authorise full scan. What are you? What are you?" I felt like saying, "Just a human who kissed a Time Lord, that's all," but I restrained myself. They made a cross on my hand. "Confirmed. Human. Traces of facial contact with non-human. Continue the search." They gave me a piece of paper. "What's that for?" I ask.

"Compensation. Follow me." I start following them, with Martha behind me. "Useless sort of police, aren't they?" Martha says.

"What do you mean?"

"It's against the law to kiss." We laugh nervously.

* * *

><p>They're gone. The stupid rhinos left. What a big surprise.<p>

Martha's on the floor beside me, gasping like a fish out of water. Weirdly, I'm breathing perfectly. Bad Wolf. That's got to be it. I crawl towards the Doctor and start to do CPR. Strangely enough, and yes, I'm being sarcastic, it's not working. Then I look back at Christmas, not this Christmas, but the Christmas before. When he was in bed, and I needed him, I told him to help me, and he woke up. Maybe that would work. I whispered in his ear. And he woke up. "The scanner, she's done something." The Doctor crawls to the MRI machine and does one of the most obvious things ever. He unplugs it. "Come on, Rose," he groans. I help him as he walks. We walk down the corridor and to the window. "Come on, come on, come on, come on, Judoon, reverse it." It starts to rain upwards again. "It's raining, Rose, it's raining on the moon."

In a flash of white light, we fall down. The Doctor suddenly gets back up. "We're back!" He screams like a little kid. "We are back!"

"No need to scream like a little kid."

"But we're back, Rose!"

"Let's just get back to the Tardis. We need to talk."

His face let go of the silliness. "Yeah." I held out my hand. "Come on." He took and we ran. All the way down the stairs, and out the back doors, seeing as we didn't want to be interrogated by the police. We got into the Tardis. "So." The Doctor said.

"Did that kiss mean something, or was it only so the Judoon would be distracted with me?"

"Rose, there was heaps of ways I could of done that genetic transfer."

"So, did it mean something?"

The Doctor sighed before saying, "Yes."

"So, does that mean there's going to be more of them?"

He looked at me and said, "If you want to?"

"Oh, I do." I walked towards him and started kissing him. This time it was more passionate than ever before. We broke the kiss and the Doctor said, "I love you, Rose Tyler."

"Really?"

"Rose Tyler, ever since I met you, I loved you. I don't know why I stopped my feelings before today. It's the dumbest thing I've ever done. I want to be with you."

"I love you too." That's pretty much it for conversation. If you know what I mean...

* * *

><p><em>2 days later...<em>

* * *

><p>"Doctor, I need to ask you something."<p>

"Yeah?"

"In the hospital, I didn't have any trouble breathing. None at all."

"I don't know what that's about. Seriously, I don't."

"I thought it was Bad Wolf." The Doctor looked at me like I was crazy. I continued on, "Maybe I'm still protected by it."

"I don't know if that's possible. I mean, I took it out of you. All of it. I think..."

"But, maybe that's a good thing. Maybe, I might never die."

"Well, that's a possibility, but it's also highly uncertain."

"Not impossible?"

"Not impossible."

* * *

><p><em>5 hours later...<em>

* * *

><p>"Do you want to take Martha along for a thank you present? Just one adventure then she will be off."<p>

"Okay."

"Good. Let's go get her." The Doctor ran around the console, flicking buttons and levers until, "13th of March, 8:03pm. Let me go get her." He ran out of the Tardis. Ten minutes later, he came in. "Hold on, Rose, just need to do something." He changed the coordinates and we set off. "What are you doing?" I asked.

"Just something." He ran out of the Tardis once again. Five minutes later, he came back in. "What did you do?" I asked.

"I took my tie off." He held his tie in his hand as he changed the coordinates. "Tell you later." He ran out of the Tardis once again. Five minutes later, he came back in. Without Martha.

"Where is she?"

"She didn't want to come."

"Okay."

"Still, the onward trail, you and me, Mutt and Jeff, Shiver and Shake! Allonsy!"

* * *

><p><strong>AN - **don't favourite/alert this story without reviewing


	5. V

**A/N - **this chapter is a rewrite of The Shakespeare Code

* * *

><p><em>v. the shakespeare code<em>

* * *

><p>"So where are we going?"<p>

"Oh, let's take the fun and mystery out of everything. Rose, you don't wanna know." The Tardis shook more and the Doctor and I got knocked to the floor. "Where are we?" I asked.

"Take a look." The Doctor opens the door. "After you." I walk onto a street at night with people milling about. "So, London, right?"

"Mind the loo!" I get pulled back as, from a first floor window, a man dumps something from a bucket. It drops, and it's, it's-

"Somewhere before the invention of the toilet. Sorry about that."

"I've seen worse. Never babysit your cousins." The Doctor chuckles. "This is London, yeah?" I say.

"I think so. Right about 1599. You're getting better."

"I pick a few things up from the greatest."

"Too nice, Miss Tyler. Anyway, you'd be surprised about this place. Elizabethan England, not so different from your time. Look over there. They've got recycling, water cooler moment-"

"And the world will be consumed by flame!" A man is sitting down, screaming random accusations.

"Global warming. Oh, yes, and-" He runs forward a bit, "Entertainment! Popular entertainment for the masses. If I'm right, we're just down the river by Southwark right next to..." He takes my hand and we run around a corner, "Oh, yes, the Globe Theatre! Brand new, just opened. Though, strictly speaking, it's not a globe, it's a tetradecagon, 14 sides, containing the man himself."

"You don't mean, Shakespeare's in there? Real, actual Shakespeare? To be or not to be?"

"Oh yes." He holds out his arm. "Miss Tyler, will you accompany me to the theatre?"

"Yes, Mr Smith, I will."

"When we go back to your time, you can tell everyone you've seen Shakespeare."

"Then I could get sectioned."

* * *

><p>"That's amazing! Just amazing. It's worth putting up with the smell. And those are men dressed as women, yeah?"<p>

"London never changes."

"Where's Shakespeare, though? I wanna see Shakespeare! Author! Author!" The Doctor looks at me. "Do people shout that? Do they shout Author?"

"Author! Author!" People around us start picking up the chant. "Well... they do now." Shakespeare comes out and takes an exaggerated bow and blows kisses. The audience goes wild and cheers even louder. "He's a bit different from his portraits, yeah?"

"Genius. He's a genius, the genius. The most human human that's ever been. Now we're gonna hear him speak. Always, he chooses the best words. New, beautiful, brilliant words."

"Shut your big fat mouths!" Shakespeare screams and the audience laughs.

"Oh, well..."

"You should never meet your heroes."

"You have excellent taste! I'll give you that." Shakespeare says to the audience. He suddenly points to a man in the audience. "Oh, that's a wig! I know what you're all saying. 'Loves Labour's Lost', that's a funny ending, isn't it? It just stops! Will the boys get the girls? Well, don't get your hose in a tangle, you'll find out soon. Yeah, yeah. All in good time. You don't rush a genius." He bows to the audience and suddenly, like a puppet on a string, he rises up again. "When? Tomorrow night." The audience cheers while the cast is stunned. "The premiere of my brand new play. A sequel, no less, and I call it 'Loves Labour's Won'!" The audience applauds louder while the Doctor and I remain quiet.

* * *

><p>"I did Shakespeare when I was a kid, I even acted in the plays and everything! But, I've never heard of 'Loves Labour's Won'. It was the lost play, wasn't it?"<p>

"Exactly, the lost play. It doesn't exist, only in rumours. It's mentioned in lists of his plays but never ever turns up. No one knows why."

"Well, how come it disappeared in the first place?"

"Well, I thought this would just be a quick trip, see one play and go, but I suppose we could stay a bit longer."

* * *

><p>"Hello! Excuse me! I'm not interrupting, am I? Mr Shakespeare, isn't it?"<p>

"Oh no, no, no, no," Shakespeare groins. "Who let you in? No autographs. No, you can't have yourself sketched with me. And please don't ask where I get my ideas from. Thanks for the interest. Now be a good boy and shove- Hey, nonny, nonny." He suddenly notices me. "Sit right down here next to me." He turns to the two actors he was talking to and says, "You two get sewing on them costumes. Off you go."

"Come on, lads. I think our William's found his new muse." No way. Shakespeare. Likes. Me. As in loves likes. "Sweet lady. Such unusual clothes, so fitted."

"Um, verily, forsooth, egads!"

"No, no, don't do that. Don't." He holds out the psychic paper to Shakespeare. "I'm Sir Doctor of Tardis and this is my wife, Mrs Rose Tyler of the Powell Estate." Wife? Rushing things a bit, Doctor. Not that I'm complaining.

"Interesting, that bit of paper. It's blank." What?

"Oh, that's very clever. That proves it. Absolute genius." But how can he not read it?

"No, it says so right there." I say, trying to go along with it. "Sir Doctor, Rose Tyler. It says so!"

"And I say it's blank."

The Doctor turns to me and says, "Only certain people get drawn into the trick. You have to have some good brain power to see it's blank. It just shows Shakespeare's a genius."

"But I'm not a genius, it's still blank for me."

"You are a genius."

"No, I'm not. I flunked the GCSEs! I almost died in the Weakest Link because I answered only one question right."

"You travel in the Tardis. You know a lot about history."

Shakespeare cuts into our conversation. "Psychic. Never heard that before and words are my trade. Who are you two exactly?"

"Um, Rose and I are from a far-off land. Freedonia."

"Excuse me!" A fat man in very funny clothing comes into the room. "Hold hard a moment. This is adominable behaviour. A new play with no warning? I demand to see a script, Mr Shakespeare. As Master of the Revels, every new script must be registered at my office and examined by me before it can be performed."

"Tomorrow morning, first thing, I'll send it 'round."

"I don't work to your schedule, you work to mine. The script, now!"

"I can't."

"Then tomorrow's performance is cancelled."

"It's all go around here, isn't it?" I mutter to the Doctor.

"I'm returning to my office for a banning order. If it's the last thing I do, 'Love's Labours Won' will never be played." He leaves the room in a huff, as mum would say.

"Well, then, mystery solved. That's 'Love's Labours Won' over and done with. Thought it might be something more, you know, more mysterious." Suddenly, right on queue, someone screams outside. We run to the Master of the Revels spitting up water, like he was drowning.

"It's that Lynley bloke."

"What's wrong with him?" He pushes everyone else away. "Leave it to me, I'm a Doctor." We run to Lynley's side. He falls to the ground. "Gotta get the heart going. Mr Lynley, c'mon, can you hear me?" He prepares to do mouth-to-mouth, but even more water gushes from Lynley's mouth. "What the hell is that?" I ask.

"I've never seen a death like it. His lungs are full of water, he drowned, and then... I dunno, like a blow to the heart, an invisible blow. He stands and addresses the maid from the inn. "Good mistress, this poor fellow has died from a sudden imbalance of the humours. A natural if unfortunate demise. Call a constable and have him taken away."

"Yes, sir." The younger maid comes. "I'll do it, ma'am."

"And why are you telling them that?" I ask the Doctor.

"This lot still have got one foot in the Dark Ages. If I tell them the truth, they'll all panic and think it was witchcraft."

"Okay, what was it then?"

The Doctor looks me in the eye and with all seriousness says "Witchcraft."

* * *

><p>"I've got you two a room, Sir Doctor. You and Mrs Tyler are just across the landing." The older maid leaves the room.<p>

"Poor Lynley. So many strange events. Not least of all, this land of Freedonia where a woman can help a doctor?"

"Where a woman can do what she likes." I reply.

"And you, Sir Doctor. How can a man so young have eyes so old?"

"I do a lot of reading." The Doctor lies.

"A trite reply. Yeah, that's what I'd do. And you, you look at him like he's a puzzle still waiting to be put together. He's as much of a puzzle to you as he is to me."

"I think we should say good night." I say, to end this awkward conversation. I walk out of the room and across the landing to the room. It has only one bed, a chair and a little cupboard. I open it and see it only has candles. I light some and put them on the floor. The Doctor comes in. "It's not exactly five-star, is it?"

"Oh, it'll do. I've seen worse."

"I haven't even got a toothbrush."

"Oh." He pats his pockets and produces a toothbrush from one of them. "Contains Venusian spearmint. Your favourite."

"Ooh, I love that stuff! So, who's going where? I mean, there's only one bed."

"We'll manage. C'mon." He flops onto the bed. "So, magic and stuff. That's a surprise. It's a little bit 'Harry Potter'."

"Wait till you read book seven. Oh, I cried."

"Really? You crying over J.K? Anyway, is it real, though? I mean, witches, black magic, and all that, it's real."

"'Course it isn't!"

"Well, how am I supposed to know? You told me."

"Looks like witchcraft, but it isn't. Can't be. Are you gonna stand there all night?" I realised I was still standing. "Sorry, there's not much room. Us two here, same bed."

"There's such a thing as psychic energy, but a human couldn't channel it like that." The Doctor continues, oblivious. "Not without a generator the size of Taunton and I think we'd have spotted that." He turns on his side, looking at me. "No. There's something I'm missing, Rose." I roll on my side looking at him. "Something really close, staring me right in the face and I can't-"

"Why did you say we were married?" I interrupted the Doctor before he could rant any more. "I mean, we only told each other our feelings what, three days ago, and you're saying we're married!"

"Are you saying it like it's a bad thing?"

"No, but, I thought I'd be the one rushing things, not you."

"So, you're saying I'm slow."

"Yeah."

"Me, Time Lord, 903 years old, is apparently slower than Rose Tyler, human, 21 years old."

"Yep."

"Are you serious?"

"Yep."

"Great. My girlfriend thinks I'm slow."

"It's true!"

"Oh, god, what has gone to your head."

"You, probably."

"Shut up."

"You first."

"This is just like the favourite food fight."

"Don't bring that up again!"

"Oh, go to bed then."

"Fine." I blow out the candle and go to sleep thinking that it's the first time the Doctor and I have slept together.

* * *

><p>Basically, I walk into Shakespeare's study, and someone else died last night. Great!<p>

"Oh, sweet Dolly Bailey. She sat out three bouts of the plague in this place. We all ran like rats. But what could have scared her so? She had such enormous spirit."

"'Rage, rage against the dying of the light.'" The Doctor quotes.

"I might use that."

"You can't, it's someone else's."

"But the thing is," I butt in, "Lynley drowned on dry land, Dolly died of fright and they were both connected to you."

"You're accusing me?"

"No, but last night, I saw a witch, big as you like, flying, cackling away and you've written about witches."

"I have?" Shakespeare says confused, "When was that?"

The Doctor turns to me and whispers, "No, not quite yet."

"Peter Streete spoke of witches."

"Who's Peter Streete?" I ask.

"Our builder. He sketched the plans to the Globe."

"The architect!" The Doctor shouts, slamming his fist down on the table, "Hold on. The architect! The architect! The Globe! Come on!"

* * *

><p>"The columns there, right? 14 sides. I've always wondered but I never asked, tell me, Will, why 14 sides?"<p>

"It was the shape Peter Streete thought best, that's all. Said it carried the sound well."

"Why does that ring a bell? 14..."

"There's 14 lines in a sonnet?" I say, stuff blurting out from school.

"So there is. You're getting better at this. Good point. Words and shapes following same design. 14 lines, 14 sides, 14 facets, oh, my head. Tetradecagon, think, think, think! Words, letters, numbers, lines!"

"This is just a theatre!" Shakespeare says.

"Oh, but a theatre's magic, isn't it? You should know. Stand on this stage, say the right words with the right emphasis at the right time, oh, you can make men weep, or cry with joy, change them. You can change people's minds just with words in this place. And if you exaggerate that..."

"It's just like the Tardis. Small wooden box with all that power inside!" I say.

"Oh. Oh! Rose Tyler, I love you."

"You better."

"More than you imagine. Tell you what, though. Peter Streete would know. Can I talk to him?"

"You won't get an answer," Shakespeare replied. "A month after finishing this place he lost his mind."

"Why? What happened?" I asked.

"Started raving about witches, hearing voices, babbling. His mind was addled."

"Where is he now?" The Doctor asked.

"Bethlem."

"What's Bethlem?" I asked.

"Bethlem Hospital. The madhouse."

"We're gonna go there. Right now. Come on."

"Wait! I'm coming with you!" Shakespeare shouts. "I want to witness this at first hand!" He stops to talk to some actors I recognised from last night who just walked in and follows us. "So, tell me of Freedonia, where women can do whatever they like."

"This country's ruled by a woman." I point out.

"Ah, she's royal. That's God's business. Though you are a royal beauty." I stop abruptly and look at him. "I'm married." I tell him.

"But Rose, this is Town."

"Come on. We can all have a good flirt later." The Doctor says. Oh God, he's been listening all this time.

"Is that a promise, Doctor?" Shakespeare says.

"Oh, 57 academics just punched the air. Now move!"

* * *

><p>Loud screams and moans sound as the Doctor, Shakespeare and I are led through the halls. "Does my lord, Doctor, wish some entertainment while he waits?" The jailer who is leading us along turns to us. "I'd whip these madmen. They'll put on a good show for ya. Ban dog and Bedlam!"<p>

"No I don't!" The Doctor says.

"Wait here then, my lords, while I make him decent for the lady." He walks off down the corridor and I look at Shakespeare. "So this is what you call a hospital, yeah? Where the patients are whipped to entertain the gentry? And you put your friend in here?"

"Oh, and it's all so different in Freedonia."

"But you're Shakespeare. You're clever. Do you honestly think this place is any good?"

"I've been mad. I've lost my mind. Fear of this place set me right again. It serves its purpose."

"Mad in what way?"

"You lost your son," The Doctor says softly. All my previous anger goes away.

"My only boy. The Black Death took him. I wasn't even there."

"I didn't know. I'm sorry."

"It made me question everything. The futility of this fleeting existence. To be or not to be... oh, that's quite good."

"You should write that down," I reply.

"Hm, maybe not. A bit pretentious?"

"This way, m'lord!" The jailer calls from down the corridor. We walk down to Peter Streete's cell. "They can be dangerous, m'lord," he says as he unlocks the door. "Don't know their own strength."

"I think it helps if you don't whip them! Now get out!" The jailer leaves and the Doctor approaches Peter slowly. "Peter? Peter Streete?"

"He's the same as he was. You'll get nothing out of him."

"Peter?" Peter's head jerks up and he looks at the Doctor with wild, glassy eyes and seems like he wants to speak. The Doctor places his hand on Peter's face. "Peter, I'm the Doctor. Go into the past, one year ago. Let your mind go back, back to when everything was fine and shining. Everything that happened in this year since happened to someone else. It was just a story. A winter's tale. Let go. Listen. That's it, just let go." He lies Peter down. "Tell me the story, Peter. Tell me about the witches.

Peter started talking. "Witches spoke to Peter. In the night, they whispered. Got Peter to build the Globe to their design. THEIR design! The 14 walls, always 14. When the work was done, ha ha, they sapped poor Peter's wits."

"Where did Peter see the witches? Where in the city? Peter, tell me. You've got to tell me where were they?"

"All Hallows Street."

"Too many words!" Suddenly a witch appears behind Peter. "Just one touch of the heart." She puts her finger on Peter's chest.

"No!"

"Witch! I'm seeing a witch!" Shakespeare cries.

"Who would be next, hmm? Just one touch. Oh, oh, I'll stop your frantic hearts! Poor, fragile mortals. Who will die first, hmm?"

"Well, if you're looking for volunteers." The Doctor walks towards her.

"No, don't!" I scream.

"Doctor, can you stop her?" Shakespeare asks.

"No mortal has power over me."

"Oh, but there's a power in words. If I can find the right one, if I can just know you..."

"None on Earth has knowledge of us."

"Then it's a good thing I'm here. Now think, think, think, humanoid female, uses shapes and words to channel energy, ah, 14! That's it! 14! The 14 stars of the Rexel planetary configuration! Creature, I name you Carrionite!" The witch wails inhumanely and disappears. "What did you do?" I ask.

"I names her. The power of a name. That's old magic."

"But there's no such thing as magic. You told me that last night."

"Well, it's just a different sort of science. You lot, you chose mathematics. Given the right string of numbers, the right equation, you can split the atom. Carrionites use words instead."

"Use them for what?" Shakespeare asks.

"The end of the world."

* * *

><p>"The Carrionites disappeared way back at the dawn of the universe. Nobody was sure if they were real of legend."<p>

"Well, I'm gonna go for real, thanks," I say. "But what do they want?"

"A new empire on Earth. A world of bones and blood and witchcraft."

"But how?"

"We're looking at the man with the words."

"Me? But I've done nothing."

"Hold on, though," I butt in, "What were you doing last night, when that Carrionite was in the room?"

"Finishing the play."

"What happens on the last page?" The Doctor asks.

"The boys get the girls, they have a bit of a dance. It's all as funny and thought provoking as usual, except those last lines. Funny thing is, I don't actually remember writing them."

"That's it! They used you. They gave you the final words. Like a spell, like a code. 'Love's Labours Won', it's a weapon! The right combination of words, spoken at the right place with the shape of the Globe as an energy converter! The play's the thing! And yes, you can have that." He picks up a map from one of the shelves and puts it on the table, looking for something. "All Hallows Street, there it is. Rose, we'll track them down. Will, you get to the Globe. Whatever you do, stop that play!"

"I'll do it. All these years I've been the cleverest man around. Next to you, I know nothing."

"Oh, don't complain!" I say.

"I'm not. It's marvellous. Good luck, Doctor, Rose."

"Good luck, Shakespeare," The Doctor says, "Once more unto the breach!"

"I like that. Wait a minute, that's one of mine!"

"Oh, just shift!" I have a sudden thought, and say, "Doctor, I want to go with him. He's gonna need some help, yeah?"

"Okay. Stay safe." I head to the door. "And Rose?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

* * *

><p>"The eye should have contentment where it rests. This spun-out year I watch on, groaning sick mewling poor drooped men in stenched beds-"<p>

"Stop the play!" Shakespeare runs out onto the stage, "I'm sorry, ladies and gentlemen, but stop. This performance must end immediately! I'm sorry, you'll get a refund. But this play must not be performed." Suddenly, he falls down and the audience laughs. An actor comes to the front while the other actors take Shakespeare away. "You must forgive our irksome Will. He's been on the beer and feeling ill." I turn to one of the actors and say, "You can't do that! He's your writer, the creator of this play! You have to listen to him!"

"Just get off the stage!" The actor whispers.

"Fine, I will. Blame yourself if the world ends." I go off to where Shakespeare is sitting. "What good am I here?" I mutter under my breath. "Look, Will, I don't know if you can hear me, but I'm going to help the Doctor. Just, when you wake up, try to stop the play!"

* * *

><p>"What use is your science now?" The witch is flying outside of the window when I came in the room. She stabs the Doctor and he falls to the floor. She cackles and flies away as the windows close.<p>

"Oh my god! Doctor! Don't worry, I've got you." Suddenly, I realise something. Time Lord? Duh! "Hold on, you dope. Two hearts!"

"Yep, got me! Aahh!" He stands and nearly falls. "I've only got one heart working. How do you people cope? I've got to get the other one started. Hit me on the chest!" I hit him on the left side. "Other side!" I hit him on the right. "On the back, on the back." Then I hit him on the back. "Ahh, lovely, there we go! Ba-da-boom! Well, what are you standing there for? Come on! The Globe!"

* * *

><p>"Stop the play! I think that was it. Yeah, I said, Stop. The. Play!"<p>

"I hit my head." Shakespeare says, rubbing his head.

"Yeah, don't rub it, you'll go bald." Suddenly, we hear screams from the stage, all turning our heads. "I think that's my cue!" He runs out. Shakespeare and I follow. Some witch looking aliens are flying around the Globe. "Come on, Will!" The Doctor grabs Shakespeare and pulls him to the front of the stage. "History needs you!"

"But what can I do?" He says, struggling from the Doctor's grip.

"Reverse it!"

"How am I supposed to do that?"

"The shape of the Globe gives words power, but you're the wordsmith, the one true genius. The only man clever enough to do it!"

"But what words? I have none ready!"

"You're William Shakespeare!"

"But these Carrionite phrases, they need such precision!"

"Trust yourself. When you're locked away in your room, the words just come, don't they? Like magic. Words of the right sound, the right shape, the right rhythm, words that last forever! That's what you do, Will! You choose perfect words. Do it. Improvise!" Shakespeare nods and moves closer to the front. "Close up this den of hateful, dire decay! Decomposition of your witches' plot! You thieve my brains, consider me your toy. My doting Doctor tells me I am not! Foul Carrionite spectres, cease your show! Between the points..." He looks at the Doctor. "7-6-1-3-9-0!"

"7-6-1-3-9-0! And banished like a tinker's cuss, I say to thee..." Again, he looks at the Doctor, who, this time, is at a loss. "Um..." Hold on... "Expelliarmus!"

"Expelliarmus!"

"Expelliarmus!" Shakespeare repeats. The Carrionites scream. The wraith-like carrionites get sucked up into the cloud, tornado fashion, as do all copies of the play. "'Love's Labours Won'. There it goes." The audience sighs in relief, then begins to applaud. "They think it was all special effects." I mutter.

"Your effect is special indeed." Shakespeare. Flirting. With. Me. Again!

"It's not your best line."

* * *

><p>"And I say, a heart for a hart, and a dear for a deer."<p>

"I don't get it." Shakespeare and I are sitting on the stage at the Globe, just talking. "Then give me a joke from Freedonia."

"Okay, Shakespeare walks into a pub, and the landlord says, "Oi, mate, you're bard!""

"It's brilliant! Doesn't make sense, mind you, but never mind that." The Doctor emerges from the backstage wearing a ruff collar and carrying an animal skull. "Good props store back there! I'm not sure about this though. Reminds me of a Sycorax."

"Oh, yeah, it does." I say.

"Sycorax. Nice word. I'll have that off you as well."

"I should be on ten percent. How's your head?"

"Still aching."

"Here, I got you this." He removes the collar from his neck and puts it on Shakespeare's. "Neck brace. Wear that for a few days till it's better, although, you might want to keep it. It suits you."

"What about my play?"

"Gone, I looked all over, every single copy of 'Love's Labours Won' went up in the sky."

"My lost masterpiece."

"You could write it up again?" I suggested.

"Yeah, better not, Will. There's still power in those words. Maybe it should best stay forgotten."

"Oh, but I've got new ideas. Perhaps it's time I wrote about fathers and sons. In memory of my boy, my precious Hamnet." What? "Hamnet?"

"That's him."

"Ham-NET?"

"What's wrong with that?" He says, turning to me.

"Anyway, time we were off. I've got a nice attic in the Tardis where this lot can scream for all eternity and I've got to take Rose back to Freedonia."

"You mean travel on through time and space?" What? I know Shakespeare's good, but not that good. "You what?" I ask.

"The Doctor's from another world like the Carrionites and you're from the future. It's not that hard to work out?"

"That's... incredible. You are incredible!"

"We're alike in many ways, Doctor. Rose, let me say goodbye to you in a new verse. A sonnet for my lady. Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou are more lovely and more temperate-"

"Will!" Two actors from last night walk in. "You'll never believe it. She's here! She's turned up!"

"We're the talk of the town. She heard about last night! She wants us to perform it again!"

"Who?" I ask.

"Her majesty! She's here!" Suddenly, fanfare comes on and a woman in rich clothing comes in. Woah! That is not- "Queen Elizabeth the First!" The Doctor says excitedly.

"Doctor!"

"What?"

"Rose Tyler!"

"What?" This time it was me saying it.

"My sworn enemies!"

"What?" We both say at the same time.

"Off with their heads!"

"What?"

"Never mind 'what', just run! See you, Will! And thanks!" I take the Doctor's hand and we run off. "Stop that pernicious pair!" We run the streets until we find the Tardis.

"Stop in the name of the Queen!" Half a dozen soldiers are at the end of the alleyway where we just come from. "What have we done to upset her?" I say.

"How should I know? We haven't even met her yet. That's time travel for you! Still, can't wait to find out. That's something to look forward to. Oh!" He ducks inside the Tardis as an arrow comes for him. He quickly set the coordinates and we left.

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><p><strong>AN - **don't favourite/alert this story without reviewing


	6. VI

**A/N - **sorry for the overly short chapter

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><p><em>vi. rude and not ginger<em>

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><p>"Somewhere special today, somewhere we've been before. I need to check on something. We're going to Raxacoricofallapatorius," The Doctor says, answering my question. I burrow my eyebrows.<p>

"Yeah?" He nods, and I'm even more confused.

"Yep. I need to check on someone there. Guess?" Things match up in my head and I nod.

"Blon? That Slitheen that became an egg?" He nods and walks over near me.

"That's the one." The Doctor skipped around the console, flipping switches and levers. "Need to check if she's being a good little girl. Unlike you."

"Oi!"

"We've seen to have picked up that word from Donna."

"Good thing?"

"Well... maybe. Don't exactly want to sound like Donna."

"Rude again!"

"Supposed to be."

"God, you are mean today."

"Rose, we just saved Earth from the Carrionites. I think I'm allowed to be mean!"

"Okay, okay, just not to me, yeah?" He looked up from flicking random buttons and said, "Sorry."

"'S okay." It was a stupid argument.

"So, Raxacoricofallapatorius!" He flicked one more lever. "Hold on tight." The Tardis started shaking badly. "What's wrong with her?" I asked.

"Sorry, Rose, but Raxacoricofallapatorius will just have to wait. We're going to New, New York!"

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><p><strong>AN - **don't favourite/alert this story without reviewing


	7. VII

**A/N - **this chapter is a rewrite of Gridlock

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><p><em>vii. gridlock<em>

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><p>"This is much better. Year five billion and fifty-three, planet New Earth! Second hope of mankind! Fifty thousand light years from your old world, and we're slap bang in the middle of New New York. One of the most dazzling cities ever built." I walk out of the Tardis and almost instantly go back in. "What, and it's raining? This looks, and feels, nothing like New New York!"<p>

"Nah, bit of rain never hurt anyone. Come on, let's get undercover!" We walk across the road, past what looks like giant dumpsters and old laundry swinging from a line. "This looks like same old Earth to me." I comment. "On a Wednesday afternoon."

"Hold on, hold on. Let's have a look over here." He walks over to a dead screen on the wall, and sonics it. Once the static appears, the Doctor bangs on the top of the screen, and a woman appears on the screen. "-and the driving should be clear and easy, with fifteen extra lanes open for the New New Jersey expressway." The image on the screen shifts to reveal New New York above ground, probably from where the Doctor and I ended up last time. "That's more like it!" I say, excited.

"This must be the lower levels. Down in the base of the tower, some sort of under-city."

"You brought me to a hospital with cats last time, and now you've brought me to the slums."

"Much more interesting! It's all cocktails and glitter up there. This is the real city."

"You'd enjoy anything."

"That's me. Oh, the rain's stopping! Better and better!" The rain finally stops and we walk up the street. Suddenly, a man flips open the top of a large green box to reveal a street vendor's cart. Around us, the other two boxes open up, appearing and shouting out their wares.

"Oh! You should have said. How long you been there? Happy! You want Happy!"

"Customers! Customers! We've got customers!"

"We're in business! Mother, open up the Mellow, and the Read!"

"Happy, Happy, lovely happy Happy!"

"Anger! Buy some Anger!"

"Get some Mellow, makes you feel all bendy and soft all day long!"

"Younger, them. They'll rip you off. Do you want some happy?"

"No, thanks," The Doctor says, frowning. "Are they selling drugs?" I ask.

"I think they're selling moods."

"Same thing, isn't it?" A pale woman dressed in very dark clothes suddenly walks towards the stalls. "Over here, sweetheart!" One of the drug dealers says, "That's it, come on. I'll get you first!"

"Oi! Oi, you! Over here! Buy some Happy!"

"Come over here, yeah. And what can I get you, my love?" The pale woman goes over to the first drug dealer and says, "I want to buy Forget."

"I've got Forget, my darling. What strength? How much you want forgetting?"

"It's my mother and father. They went on the motorway." What? Why would you forget something as small as that?

"Oh, that's so sweet." The female drug dealer says. She reaches behind her into the stall, and pulls out a small circular token. She holds it out to the pale woman. "Try this. Forget Forty-three. That's twopence." The pale woman pays the pharmacist and turns away, the token still in her hand. Before she can do anything with it, the Doctor stops her. "Sorry, but, hold on a minute. What happened to your parents?"

"They drove off."

"They might drive back?"

"Everyone goes to the motorway in the end. I've lost them."

"But they can't have gone far. You could find them." The pale woman just looks at him, then looks down with a sigh. She sticks the circular token to her neck. "No, no, don't," The Doctor shouts, annoyed. He is too late. The pale woman's expression changes almost instantly. She seems docile, serene, a bit out of it and unaware of her surroundings. "I'm sorry, what were you saying?"

"Your parents. Your mother and father. They're on the motorway."

"Are they? That's nice."

"I'm sorry. I won't keep you." She walks off, slightly limping, with a smile on her face.

"So that's what we become five billion years in the future. Off our heads on chemicals." Suddenly, I get grabbed from behind, throwing an arm around my neck and dragging me off, as a woman stands in front of me, pointing her gun at the Doctor. I scream and struggle, but they're too quick. They start moving back into the shadows, taking me with them. "I'm sorry, I'm really, really sorry. We just need three, that's all." The man holding me says.

"No, let her go!" The Doctor pleads. "I'm warning you, let her go! Whatever you want, I can help. Both of us, we can help. But first you've go to let her go!"

"I'm sorry." The woman says. "I'm really sorry. Sorry." She repeats her apologies, almost crying, and runs through a green door I hadn't already seen. The man follows taking me with them. They push me through a shadowy corridor. "The Doctor is going to kill you," I warn. "Just watch." My kidnappers don't listen, they just exchange looks and keep going. I hear a bang from the front of the corridor from where we came. "See!" I point out. "He's coming. You better prepare yourselves." They keep going, only a little bit faster this time. The woman opens a door, and we emerge in daylight. "The Doctor is so gonna kill you, and never mind him, I'm gonna kill you myself! Let go of me!" I break free of the man's grip and start to run up towards the corridor, but the man grabs me again, pulling me closer and looking to the woman. We have stopped in front of a large black car. "Give her some Sleep."

"Don't you dare! Don't put that stuff in me, don't! Get off me!"

"It's just Sleep Fourteen." The woman says. She reaches into her pocket and pulls out another token, just like the one I saw the pale woman use, and presses it onto my neck. I scream, trying to fight. "No, baby, don't fight it." The woman says. I can't fight it for long, and I fall into the darkness.

* * *

><p>The first thing I see when I wake up is a blue screen, all fuzzy. There's an odd green light above me. I look around, seeing containers of pills and liquid next to me and hearing vague voices in the background. I reach sleepily for the token at my neck and pull it off, frowning. I throw it away. I see a gun sitting on a computer screen next to my head and I snatch it, pointing it at my captors. "Take me back. Whoever you are, just take me back to my friend. That's all I want. I won't cause any trouble. Just take me back!" The woman and the man glance at each other. The woman is the first to speak. "I'm sorry. That's not a real gun." Damn. I throw it away. "Yeah, well, I wasn't going to use it anyway. I'm not a gun sort of person."<p>

"Where do you get a gun from these days? I wouldn't even know how to fire."

"No, nor me. Okay." The woman smiles and says, "What's your name?"

"Rose. Rose Tyler." I get up and go towards the front of wherever we are to stand behind them. "Well," The woman continues, "I'm Cheen, and this is Milo. And I swear we're sorry. We're really, really sorry. We just needed access to the fast lane, but I promise, as soon as we arrive, we'll drop you off and you can go back and find you friend."

"Seriously? That's doesn't sound half bad."

"I swear! Look!" Cheen pulls back her hair to reveal another drug token on her neck. It's the same as the one the pale woman had and the one I had, except this one has the word "HONESTY" printed on it, with the number "36" under it. "Honesty patch."

"All the same, that's still kidnapping! Where are we, anyway?"

"We're on the motorway." Milo says.

"What's that, then? Fog?"

"That's the exhaust fumes." Cheen says.

"We're going out to Brooklyn. Everyone says the air's so much cleaner, and we couldn't stay in Pharmacy Town, 'cause..." Milo rubs Cheen's knee then grins at me. "Well, 'cause of me. I'm pregnant. We only discovered it last week. Scan says it's going to be a boy." Cheen informs me. They both grin up at me.

"Great. What do I do now, congratulate my kidnappers?" I say, disgustedly.

"Oh, we're not kidnappers." Cheen says. "Not really."

"No, you're idiots! You're having a baby, and you're taking drugs?" I rip the honesty patch from Cheen's neck. She gives a small yelp of pain. "Not anymore."

"This'll be as fast as we can. We'll take the motorway to the Brooklyn flyover, and then after that it's gonna take awhile, 'cause then there's no fast lane, just ordinary roads, but at least it's direct."

"It's only ten miles." Cheen adds. Well, that's not so bad.

"How long is it gonna take?" I ask.

"About six years." Cheen says in all seriousness. "What?"

"It'll be just in time for him to start school." Cheen and Milo giggle.

"Nope. Sorry. Hold on. Six years? Ten miles in six years? How come?"

* * *

><p>From our vehicle, I watch the traffic jam through a window. "How many cars are out there?" I ask.<p>

"I don't think anyone knows." Cheen answers. She reaches for something and holds it out. It's a large, round wafer. "Here you go. Hungry?"

"Oh, thanks." I munch on the tasteless wafer. "About how far down is it to this fast lane?"

"Oh, it's right at the bottom, underneath the traffic jam. But not many people can afford three passengers, so it's empty down there. Rumour has it you can reach up to thirty miles per hour."

"Wow." I say, deliberately sarcastic. "That's like, crazy." Milo and Cheen laugh at me. I look around the car curiously. "But how are you supposed to live inside this thing? It's tiny."

"Oh, we stocked up," Cheen says. "Got self-replicating fuel, muscle stimulants for exercise, and there's a chemical toilet at the back. And all waste products are recycled as food." Ew... "Oh-kay." I drop the wafer as fast as I can.

"Oh, another gap!" Milo says, happily. "This is brilliant!"

"Car sign in." says a electronic voice from the screen.

"Car Four Six Five Diamond Six, on descent to fast lane," Milo says, speaking into the transmitter. "Thank you very much."

"Please drive safely."

"See? Another ten layers to go. We're scorching." Milo says to Cheen and I. I smile. As I do, a low noice sounds; it's like a mix between a creak and a growl. "What's that?" I ask. The sound comes again. "It's coming from underneath, probably near the fast lane."

"It does have noise, doesn't it?" Cheen says. "It's like Kate said. The stories are true."

"What stories?"

"It's the sound of the air vents," Milo says, exasperated. "That's all. The exhaust fumes travel down, so at the base of the tunnel they've got air vents."

"No, the stories are much better." Cheen says. Milo chuckles and looks away. "They say people go missing on the motorway. Some cars just vanish, never to be seen again. 'Cause there's something living down there, in the smoke. Something huge. And hungry. And if you get lost on the road... it's waiting for you." As the rumbling noise gets louder and louder, we all stare at each other, nervously. Milo shifts in his seat.

"But like I said. Air vents." Milo says, reassuring himself. He presses buttons on the console. "Going down to the next layer."

"Except look out there." I point to the window where you can't see anything except the smoke. "Does it look like the air vents are working?"

"No." Cheen says. The sound keeps getting louder. Now there's growling and crashing.

"So what's that then?" They don't have an answer for me. Milo shakes his head.

"Nah. Kid stuff." He holds up his transmitter. "Car Four Six Five Diamond Six, on descent."

Oh please, Doctor, save me!

* * *

><p>In our car, all three passengers are looking dejectedly at the screen. A sidebar reads, "Brooklyn Junction," and below it are three choices reading, "Exit 1, Exit 2, Exit 3."<p>

"Try again," Cheen says. Milo taps "Exit 1".

"Brooklyn Turnoff One closed." Cheen lets out an anguished moan. "Try the next one."

"Brooklyn Turnoff Two closed."

"What do we do?"

"We'll keep going around. We'll do the whole loop. By the time we come back around, they'll be open." The rumbling noise sounds again, and we all look around in panic. "You're still calling that air vents?" I say, not so sure of what it is either.

"What else could it be?" From the looks on their faces, it's clear that neither of them really want to know. Again, the noise. "What the hell was that?" Cheen wails.

"It's just the... hydraulics."

"Sounds like it's alive!" I say.

"It's all exhaust fumes out there. Nothing could breathe in that."

"Calling Car Four Six Five Diamond Six," a female voice coming from the computer says, "Repeat, calling Car Four Six Five Diamond Six."

"This is Car Four Six Five Diamond Six," Milo says into the transmitter. "Who's that? Where are you?"

"I'm in the fast lane, about fifty yards behind. Can you get back up? Can you get _off _the fast lane?"

"We only have permission to go down. We... we need to use the Brooklyn Flyover."

"It's closed. Go back up."

"We can't. We'll... we'll just go around."

"Don't you understand? They're closed. They're always closed." Cheen claps her hands over her mouth, in more distress than ever. She's letting out frightened gasps. "We're stuck down here. And there's something else. Out there, in the fog. Can't you hear it?" There is a definite shrill roar sounding outside now. "That's the air vents," Milo says.

"Jehovah! What are you, some stupid kid? Get out of here!" We hear screams in the background and Cheen wails even louder. "What was that?" Milo asks.

"I can't move! They've got us!"

"But what's happening?" God, damnit! I snatch the transmitter. "What's got you?" I scream into the transmitter. "What is it?" The cat yells something unintelligible. We hear more screams through the transmitter. "Hello?" Milo says.

"Just drive, you idiots! Get out of here! Get out!"

"Can you hear me? Hello?"

"Just drive!" I scream. "Do what she said, get us out of here!"

"But where?"

"Just straight ahead! And fast!"

"What is it?" Cheen sobs. "What's out there? What is it?"

* * *

><p>"Go faster!" I scream. The car is jolting more than ever and I have a feeling that it's only meant for slow speeds. Really slow speeds. "I'm at top speed!" Milo screams back. The screen at the front of the car reads "Proximity warning."<p>

"No access above," the electronic voice says.

"But this is an emergency!" Milo shouts into the transmitter.

"Thank you for your call. You have been placed on hold."

"Turn everything off," I scream. I've got an idea.

"You've got to be joking."

"No, listen, it's all fog out there, so how can they see us? Maybe it's the engines, the sound, the heat or the light, I don't know! Turn everything off. They might not be able to find us!"

"What if you're wrong?"

"It can't be worse than this for god's sake! Just do it!" Milo goes for it, flicking switches at the top of the car and on the console. This seems to do the trick, the three of us sit quietly in the unmoving car, no longer jolting around, no longer screaming. "They've stopped," Cheen whispers.

"Yeah, but they're still out there," Milo whispers back. We all glance around nervously. Cheen decides not to deal with that, and looks instead to me. "How did you think of that?"

"I saw it on a film. They used to do it in submarines. Trouble is, I can't remember what they did next."

"Well, you better think of something," Milo whispers desperately, "because we've lost the aircon. If we don't switch the engines back on, we won't be able to breathe."

"How long have we got?"

"Eight minutes," Milo says, looking around at us with sorrow in his eyes. "Maximum." Cheen starts crying.

"Hey, it's okay," I say, comforting us.

"We're going to die! I'm going to die in this stupid car, pregnant on the stupid freeway! I am so sorry!"

* * *

><p>The car is still silent except for Cheen's occasional sob, still stationary. "How much air's left?" Cheen asks inbetween sobs. I stay silent. "Two minutes." Milo says.<p>

"There's always the Doctor," I say. "My boyfriend. He might think of something."

"Martha, no one's coming," Milo says, crushing almost all my hope.

"He looked kinda nice," Cheen says, trying to cheer me up.

"He's a bit more than that." Cheen smiles. "He's my everything. We used to just travel together. We never said anything about our feelings about each other. But, I fell in love with him as soon as I met him. Then he took me with him and I was on top of the world, literally. Then, something happened and I lost my mother and my best friend. He became the only family I had left. Then we declared our love for each other and that was it." Cheen has finally stopped crying and is grinning at me. "I never asked," she says. "Where's home?"

"Far away. Really, so far away. If we get out of here, you must not tell anyone this, but, I'm a time traveller." Cheen gasps. "Really. The Doctor and I travel through time. He saves civilisations, stops aliens from taking over Earth, and there's a lot of running. A whole lot of running. So, you've got your faith, you've got your songs and your hymns. And I've got the Doctor."

"Right." Milo moves towards the controls and turns the controls on. "Systems back on line," the electronic voice tells us. The lights come back on again and Milo grips Cheen's hand briefly. "Good luck."

"And you," I say.

* * *

><p>We fly around, dodging whatever it is outside. Finally, after what seems like no time at all, we get caught and Cheen screams. Milo drives the car out of the creature's grip and we fly once more. Suddenly, a hologram appears on the car screen. "Sorry, no Sally Calypso, she was just a hologram. My name's the Doctor." I jump up and down with joy. "Yes, yes!"<p>

"And this is an order. Everyone drive up. Right now. I've opened the roof of the motorway. Come on. Throttle those engines. Drive up. All of you, the whole under-city. Drive up, drive up, drive up! Fast! We've got to clear that fast lane. Drive up and get out of the way. Oi! Car Four Six Five Diamond Six! Rose! Drive up!"

"That's the Doctor," I squeal.

"We can't go up! We'll hit the layer!" Milo says stupidly.

"Just do as he says! Go up!"

"You've got access above! Now go!" We struggle out of the creature's grip and burst up out of the fog, heading for the opening. We gaze up, the sunlight hitting our faces. "It's daylight!" Cheen says. "Oh my God. That's the sky. The real sky!"

"He did it!" I scream with laughter and give Cheen a hug. "I told you, he did it!"

"You keep driving, Brannigan, all the way up!" The Doctor is still talking on the hologram, obviously to someone he met today. "'Cause it's here, just waiting for you. The city of New New York, and it's yours. And don't forget, I want my coat back."

"I reckon that's a fair bargain, sir!" A voice comes over the hologram that is obviously Brannigan.

"And Car Four Six Five Diamond Six, I've sent you a flight path. Come to the Senate."

"On my way!" I scream into the transmitter.

"It's been quite a while since I saw you, Rose Tyler. Maybe a little bit too long."

* * *

><p>I leap happily into the Senate room. Milo and Cheen left for their home, but they dropped me off here first. I stop suddenly at the skeleton lying on the floor in front of me. "Doctor?"<p>

"Over here," A voice from around the corner sounds. "Doctor!" I follow the voice to find him kneeling, with Novice Hame, in front of the Face of Boe.

"It's the Face of Boe. It's all right. And do you recognise Novice Hame?" I approach the Face of Boe. "He's the one that saved you, not me."

"My lord gave his life to save the city," Hame sobs. I kneel next to the Doctor. "And now he's dying."

"No, don't say that. Not old Boe. Plenty of life left."

"It's good to breathe the air once more," The Face of Boe says, breathing heavily. His glass case has shattered, and he's lying on the floor. "Don't die," The Doctor says. "You've lived for billions of years. Isn't that right? And you're not about to give up now."

"Everything has its time. You know that, old friend, better than most. And you, Rose Tyler, I remember the first time I met you. Oh, how we danced that night." What?

"The legend says more," Hame says.

"Don't. There's no need for that."

"It says that the Face of Boe will speak his final secret to a traveller," Hame continues, completely oblivious to the Doctor's words.

"Yeah, but not yet. Who needs secrets, eh?"

"I have seen so much. Perhaps too much. I am the last of my kind, as you are the last of yours, Doctor."

"That's why we have to survive. Both of us. Don't go."

"I must. But know this, Time Lord. You... are... not... alone." The Doctor and I stare, uncomprehending, as the Face of Boe's eyes close for the last time. Hame begins to sob.

* * *

><p>Back in the alley where the Doctor and I first met the drug dealers, it's finally deserted. "All closed down," The Doctor explains.<p>

"Happy?"

"Happy happy." I laugh softly. The Doctor inspects one of the empty booths. "New New York can start again! And they've got Novice Hame. Just what every city needs, cats in charge! Come on, time we were off." We walk into the Tardis. "But what did he mean, the Face of Boe?" I ask. "You're not alone?"

"I don't know." He looks sad, as though it's not a good thing.

"Aren't you happy? You might not be the last of your kind."

"Yeah." I knew he didn't want to talk about it, so I didn't press any further. "Anyway," he said, all chipper again. "The open road."

* * *

><p><strong>AN - **don't favourite/alert this story without reviewing


	8. VIII

**A/N - **sorry for another short chapter!

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><p><em>viii. i died today<em>

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><p>I could still see that the Doctor was grieving, and I was tired after being kidnapped, so I went to bed early. It was a sleepless night. Halfway through the night, the Doctor came into my room. "Can I come in?" he asked. I nodded and he fell on my bed. We looked up at the ceiling in silence. "I died today," he said in a small voice, breaking the silence.<p>

"Because of the 'You're Not Alone' thing?"

"No," he said. "Because of you."

"Why?"

"You got kidnapped, Rose! I was an emotional wreck, I could barely concentrate on saving you! If it was anyone else, I would have been able to save them faster, but, because it was you..." He drifted off into his own memories. "I love you so much, I thought I wouldn't see you again."

"Don't say that! We promised forever didn't we?" I rolled over so I was facing him. "I'm going to give you forever, no matter what!"

"What if we get separated?" he asked, tears starting to flow. "What if we got taken away from each other and our fates were out of our hands?"

"Then we take our fates back and we find each other again. I'm not leaving you, not now, not ever." I put my hand on his face. "Forever." I leaned in and kissed him deeply. After a few seconds he broke the kiss. "Can I stay tonight?" he asked.

"Okay."

* * *

><p>I woke up to find myself in the Doctor's arms. He had one arm around me and another holding my hand. "Hello, sunshine," he said cheerily as I woke up. "How did you sleep?"<p>

"Good, you?"

"I didn't."

"Really, did you stay up all night?"

"Admiring my beautiful human."

"Creepy, but so you."

"Come on, breakfast. You humans eat so much."

"Oi, I don't."

"Come on, Rose." He got out of the blankets and starting jumping on the bed. "Breakfast!"

"Sometimes I think you're just a toddler."

"Live a little!" He looked insulted. "Breakfast!"

"Five more minutes..." I muttered.

"No, no, no, I already made breakfast! It will get cold!"

"What is it, if it's good, then I will get up. If it's just toast, I'm staying in bed."

"Pancakes, with banana."

"Coming!" I squealed and got out of bed. He ran to the kitchen. I got on a dressing gown and ran after him. "I'm here!" I said and sat down in one of the chairs. He passed me the pancakes. I ate them happily. "Where to today?" I asked but it came out as "Weh-tuh-tuh-da?"

"What's that?" He said mockingly as he ate his pancakes. I swallowed and tried again. "Where to today?"

"That's a surprise, you'll just have to wait and see."

"You're so annoying."

"You love me."

"Doesn't mean you're not annoying."

"Oi!"

* * *

><p><strong>AN - **don't favourite/alert this story without reviewing


	9. IX

**A/N - **this chapter is a rewrite of Daleks In Manhattan

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><p><em>ix. daleks in manhattan<em>

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><p>"Where are we today?" I step out of the Tardis to a cool breeze. "It's cold."<p>

"Ah, smell that Atlantic breeze. Nice and cold. Lovely. Rose, have you met my friend?" He looks up, behind the Tardis. I follow his sight and see- "Oh my God! That's the Statue of Liberty!"

"Gateway to the New World. 'Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.'"

"That's so brilliant. I've always wanted to go to New York. I mean the real one, not the new, new, new, new, new, new, new, is that another new's?" The Doctor laughs. "Mum and I could never afford it." We walk to the edge of the island with a view of the Manhattan skyline. "Well, there's the genuine article. So good, they named it twice. Mind you, it was New Amsterdam originally. Harder to say twice. Now wonder it didn't catch on. New Amsterdam, New Amsterdam."

"I wonder what year it is, 'cause look, the Empire State Building's not even finished yet." I point over to it. "Work in progress," The Doctor says. "Still got a couple of floors to go, and if I know my history, that makes the date somewhere around... hold on..." I look behind me and find a newspaper on a bench. I pick it up. "November the first, 1930."

"You're getting good at this, oh." He sees the newspaper. "Cheat."

"Eighty years ago. Where do we go first?"

"I think our detour just got longer." He shows me the headline on the front page of the newspaper. "'Hooverville Mystery Deepens'. What's Hooverville?"

* * *

><p>We stroll through Central Park, heading towards what must be Hooverville. Smoke is rising through the trees from must be fires. "Herbert Hoover, 31st president of the USA, came to power a year ago. Up till then New York was a boom town, the Roaring Twenties, and then..."<p>

"The Wall Street Crash, yeah?" I finish for him. "One of the things I learnt in high school. When was that?"

"1929. Whole economy wiped out overnight. Thousands of people unemployed. Suddenly the huddled masses doubled in number with nowhere to go. So they ended up here, in Central Park."

"So they live in the park?"

"Yeah. Ordinary people. Lost their jobs. Couldn't pay the rent and they lost everything. There are places like this all over America. You only come to Hooverville when there's nowhere else to go." We arrive at Hooverville, which is only a collection of quickly put together shacks and tents with random fire barrels throughout. "Why doesn't anyone do anything?" I ask. Before the Doctor can answer, we hear shouting from another part of Hooverville. We run over to see two men fighting. "You thievin' lowlife!" One man says and punches the other. "My loaf!"

"I didn't touch it!" The other man says. An older man steps out of his tent to try and stop the fight. "Cut that out!" He screams. The two men ignore him and keep fighting. "Cut that out! Right now!" He walks over and pushes the two men apart. "He stole my bread!" The first man says.

"That's enough!" He looks at the other man. "Did you take it?"

"I don't know what happened, he just went crazy!" The other man lunges at him but is held back. "That's enough!" The man who stopped the fight says. Other residents of Hooverville wander over to see what's going on. "Now think real careful before you lie to me." The younger man gives in. "I'm starvin', Solomon." Solomon holds out his hand and the man reaches under his coat and pulls out the bread, handing it to Solomon. "We're all starvin'" He breaks the bread in half. "We all got families somewhere." He hands each man a half. "No stealin' and not fightin'. You know the rules. Thirteen years ago I fought in the Great War. A lot of us did. And the only reason we got through was because we stuck together. No matter how bad things get, we still act like human beings. It's all we got." The men go their own way.

"Come on," The Doctor says and we walk over to Solomon. "I suppose that makes you the boss around here?" Solomon turns around. "And, uh, who might you be?"

"He's the Doctor, I'm Rose." I say.

"A doctor?" Well, we got, uh, stockbrokers, we got a lawyer, but you're the first doctor. Neighbourhood gets classier by the day." He sits down on a thick tree trunk and warms his hands over a fire.

"How many people live here?" I ask.

"At any one time, hundreds. No place else to go. But I will say this about Hooverville. We are a truly equal society, black, white. All the same. All starvin'" He laughs. "So you're welcome. Both of you. But tell me, Doctor, you're a man of learning right? Explain this to me." He stands up and walks over to a hole in the tree. He points at the Empire State Building. "That there's going to be the tallest building in the world. How come they can do that, and we got people starving in the heart of Manhattan? Hmm?" He walks away.

* * *

><p>"So... men are going missing," The Doctor says to Solomon, who's sitting by the fire, throwing coffee dregs into it. "Is this true?" He hands the newspaper to Solomon, who takes it. "It's true all right." He stands up and goes inside his tent. We follow him. "But what does missing mean? Men must come and go here all the time. It's not like anyone's keeping a register." Solomon sits down on a chair in his tent. "C'mon in." We walk inside and sit on a chair. "This is different."<p>

"How so?" I ask.

"Someone takes them. At night. We hear something. Someone calls out for help. By the time we get there, they're gone. Like they vanish into thin air."

"And you're sure someone's taking them?" The Doctor asks.

"Doctor, when you got next to nothing, you hold on to the little you got. Your knife, your blanket, you take it with you. You don't leave bread uneaten, fire still burning."

"Have you been to the police?" I ask. "Someone out there is going to help you. Like us!"

"Yeah, we tried that. Another deadbeat goes missing, big deal. But, we're happy if you can help. We need all the help we can get."

"So, the question is, who's taking them and what for?" The Doctor says. Suddenly, a young man sticks his head inside the tent. "Solomon, Mr. Diagoras is here." He says in an accent from Texas. We walk outside to where this Diagoras is talking to the men of Hooverville. "I need men. Volunteers. I got a little work for you and you sure look like you can use the money."

"Yeah. What is the money?" The young man says.

"A dollar a day." All the men grumble. "So what's the work?" Solomon asks.

"A little trip down into the sewers. Got a tunnel that collapsed that needs clearing and fixing. Any takers?"

"A dollar a day? That's slave wage. Men don't always come back up, do they?"

"Accidents happen!"

"What do you mean?" The Doctor asks. "What sort of accidents?"

"You don't need the work? That's fine," Diagoras says, avoiding the Doctor's question. "Anybody else?" The Doctor and I raise our hands. "Enough with the questions."

"Oh, no, we're volunteering." Solomon and the young man raise their hands as well.

* * *

><p>We climb down a ladder and enter the stinking sewers. It smells absolutely revolting! Frank, I learnt his name earlier, is holding his nose to not smell anything. "Turn left," Diagoras says. "Go about half a mile. Follow Tunnel 273. Fall's right ahead of you. You can't miss it."<p>

"And when do we get our dollar?" Frank asks.

"When you come back up."

"And if we don't come back up?" The Doctor asks.

"Then I got no one to pay."

"We'll be back." Solomon says. We start down the tunnel. "We just gotta stick together," Frank says. "It's easy to get lost. It's like a huge rabbit warren. You could hide an army down here."

"So what about you, Frank? You're not from around these parts, are you?"

"Oh, you could talk." I chuckle. "No, no, I'm from Tennessee, born and bred."

"So how come you're here?"

"Uh, my daddy died. Mama couldn't afford to feed us all. So, I'm the oldest, up to me to feed myself, so put on my coat, hitched up here on the railroads. There's a whole lot of runaways in camp younger than me. From all over; Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas... Solomon keeps a lookout for us. So, what about you? You're a long way from home."

"Yeah, I just travel a lot."

"So this Diagoras bloke," The Doctor says. "Who is he then?"

"A couple of months ago, he was just another foreman," Solomon explains. "Now it seems like he's running most of Manhattan."

"How did he manage that, then?"

"These are strange times. A man can go from being King of the Hill to the lowest of the low overnight. It's just for some folks it works the other way 'round."

"Woah!" The Doctor stops abruptly in front of us. A blob of something is lying on the ground giving off a sick green light. I run forward. "What is that?" The Doctor sets down his torch and crouches beside it. "It's gone off, whatever it is." The Doctor slips on his glasses and carefully picks up the slimy blob. "Don't you dare lick it."

"Shine your torch through it." I pick up my torch and put it on the blob. "Composite organic matter. Rose? Opinion?"

"It looks something like a brain, but it's definitely not human."

"No, it's not. And I'll tell you something else." He stands up and takes his glasses off. "We must be at least half a mile in and I don't see any sign of a collapse, do you? So why did Mr Diagoras send up down here?"

"I'm not liking the sound of this, but okay, where are we now? What's above us?"

"Well... we're right underneath Manhattan."

"We're way beyond half a mile," Solomon says. "There's no collapse, nothin'" A sudden rush of fear finds it's way inside of me. "That Diagoras bloke," I start. "He was lying, yeah?"

"Looks like it." The Doctor replies. We keep on walking, and a silence falls over us. "So why did he want people to come down here?" Frank asks us, breaking the silence.

"Solomon, I think it's time you took these two back," The Doctor says. "I'll be much quicker on my own."

"Uh, uh, no way am I leaving you!" I say. I was about to say something else, but instead, we hear squealing echoing in the distant tunnels. "What the hell was that?" Solomon whispers.

"Hello?" Frank screams. I shush him. "Frank..." Solomon says, about to get into an argument.

"What if it's one of the folk gone missing? You'd be scared, half-mad down here on your own."

"Do you think they're still alive?" The Doctor asks.

"Heck, we ain't seen no bodies down here. Maybe they just got lost." We hear more squealing. "I know I never heard nobody make a sound like that!" Solomon says.

"Sounds like there's more than one of 'em!" Frank says. He's excited, even though it might not be human. Hold on, where did that come from? Am I getting paranoid and thinking that everything that's bad is alien? What am I becoming? "This way." The Doctor says and walks off, with me following him.

"No, that way," Solomon says, shining his light down another tunnel. The light of Solomon's torch catches a huddled figure on the ground. I look back at the Doctor, "Doctor..." I warn. He walks back and rejoins us. "Who are you?" Solomon asks.

"Are you lost? Can you understand me? I've been thinkin' 'bout folk lost..." Frank says, trying to converse with the figure. He starts to walk forward but the Doctor stops him. "It's all right, Frank. Just stay back. Let me have a look." He starts to walk towards the figure. "He's got a point, though, my mate Frank. I'd hate to be stuck down here on my own. We know the way out. Daylight! If you want to come with us." He squats in front of it and shines a light on it's face. It's not human, at least not any more. It has pig-like features, but it's like it's human somehow... "Oh, but what are you?"

"Is, uh, that some kind of carnival mask?" Solomon asks.

"No, it's real." He turns back to the pig man. "I'm sorry. Now listen to me. I promise I can help." He fails to see shadows fall on the wall behind him. "Now, who did this to you?"

"Doctor, I think you'd better get back here!" I warn. More pig men are starting to come into the tunnel. The opposite end of the tunnel is quickly filling with them. "Doctor!" He stands up eventually. "Actually... good point." He backs up towards us.

"They're following you!"

"Yeah, I noticed that, thanks." He reaches us. "Well then, Rose, Frank, Solomon..."

"Yeah?"

"Um, basically... RUN!" We race down the tunnel to a cross-section where I stop in confusion. "Which way do we go?" I ask.

"This way!" The Doctor answers and turns right. We keep on running until we stop at the mouth of a joining tunnel. "There's a ladder!" The Doctor screams. He climbs the ladder and uses the sonic screwdriver on the lid. I follow. I see Solomon hesitate when he sees Frank pick up a metal rod to try and hold them off. "Frank!" He screams. Seeing that we are safe, Frank runs for the ladder and starts climbing, and we all reach down our hands. We scream encouragement for Frank to go on. But, the pig men pull Frank out of our grasp and down into the sewer. "Frank!" Solomon screams.

"No!" I scream, but Solomon shoves me and the Doctor aside and closes the lid before one of the pig men limbs up. "We can't go after him!" Solomon screams.

"We've got to go back down!" The Doctor screams. I sit down in a chair nearby. "We can't just leave him!" I sob.

"No, I'm not losing anybody else! Those creatures were from Hell itself! If we go after them, they'll take us all! There's nothing we can do! I'm sorry." A woman suddenly steps out from behind a shelf in the room, a gun pointed at us. "All right then! Put 'em up! Hands in the air and no funny business!" We put our hands up. "Now tell me, you schmucks, what've you done with Lazlo?"

"Uh, who's Lazlo?" I ask.

* * *

><p>Okay. This is really weird. First we see alien pigs, which I just think is insane. Been there, done that. I mean, when the Slitheen came to Earth, they used a pig and made it look like an alien. Why do aliens like pigs? Secondly, this diva comes and points a gun at me, then she ushers us into her dressing room and talks to us about her boyfriend troubles. Well, not exactly troubles... "Lazlo's my boyfriend. Or was my boyfriend until two weeks ago. No letter, no good-bye, no nothin'. And I'm not stupid." She waves her gun while she talks. "I know some guys are just pigs," Huh, speaking off. Why does everyone like pigs? "But not my Lazlo. I mean, what kinda guy asks you to meet his mother before he vamooses?"<p>

"It might," The Doctor says, "might just help if you put that down."

"Hunh?" She realises that she's still holding the gun. "Oh, sure." She tosses it into a nearby chair. "Oh, c'mon. It's not real. It's just a prop. It was either that or a spear."

"What do you think happened to Lazlo?" I ask.

"I wish I knew. One minute he's there, the next, zip- vanished!"

"Listen, ah, what's your name?" The Doctor asks.

"Tallulah."

"Tallulah?"

"3 Ls and an H." He pauses for a second. "Right. Um, we can try to find Lazlo, but he's not the only one. There are people disappearing every night."

"And there are creatures," Solomon speaks up, moving forward from where he's standing in the back of the room. "Such creatures..."

"Whaddaya mean, creatures?"

"Look. Listen, just trust me. Everyone is in danger. I need to find out exactly what this is." He removes the blob from his pocket. "Because then I'll know what we're fighting." Tallulah leans back. "Yech!"

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><p>Tallulah is in costume, putting on her makeup for the performance. I'm sitting in a chair, watching. She can put makeup on well! "Lazlo," She stops for a second and looks at me. "He'll wait for me after the show, walk me home like I was a lady. He'd leave a flower for me on my dressing table. Everyday, just a single rose."<p>

"Have you reported him missing?" I ask. "Everyone else has."

"Sure. He's just a stagehand. Who cares? The management certainly don't."

"Can't you kick up a fuss or something? You're a diva!"

"Okay, so then they fire me."

"But they'd listen to you. You're one of the stars."

"Oh, honey. I got one stone in a back street revue and that's only because Heidi Chicane broke her ankle- which I had nothin' to do with, whatever anybody says. I can't afford to make a fuss. If I don't make this month's rent, then before you know it, I'm in Hooverville."

"You shouldn't have to go through this. It isn't fair!"

"It's the Depression, sweetie. Your heart might break but the show goes on and if it stops, you starve. Every night I have to go out there, sing, dance, keep goin'. Hoping he's going to come back." She breaks down and I rush to her and give her a hug. "I'm sorry." Tallulah pulls out of the hug and wipes her eyes. "Hey, you're lucky though. You got yourself a forward thinking guy with that hot potato in the sharp suit."

"Yeah, I love him. How did you know?"

"It's really obvious. I reckon everyone can see it."

"Hope we didn't look like that when we weren't dating. That would be weird."

"You're really lucky you know. Lazlo is gone. Still, ya gotta live in hope. It's the only thing that's kept me going 'cause..." She lifts a white rose gently from the dressing table. "Look. On my dressing table everyday still."

"You think it's Lazlo?"

"I don't know. If he's still around, why's he bein' all secret like he doesn't want me to see him?"

* * *

><p>"Girls, it's showtime!" I walk up to Tallulah. "Tallulah, I'm going to go to the Doctor, ok?"<p>

"This is artificial," The Doctor says, poking at the brain-like thing. "Gentically engineered. Whoever this is, oh, you're clever."

"What is it though?" I say.

"Fundamental DNA type 467989. 989, hold on, that means planet of origin." A look of disbelieft crosses his face. "Skaro." He turns to me. "Daleks." He suddenly rushes off.

I stay sitting there, just staring ahead in disbelief. They're in the void, they're dead. Gone. Never should be here! They took my mum and my best friend away from me and now they're back.

* * *

><p>We arrive backstage where Tallulah and her friends are standing around. "We're going." The Doctor announces and walks off. "Where? We just saw a man with a pig's face on stage!" We walk off with Tallulah on our tail. The Doctor notices the sewer lid is crooked so he grabs his coat and puts it on. "Oh, where are you goin'?"<p>

"They've gone."

"Who's they?" We begin to climb down into the sewer. "What're y' doin'? I said, what the hell are ya doin'? Crazy guy." Tallulah finds a long coat to put on over her costume and follows. "No, no, no, no, no way! You're not coming."

"Tallulah," I say. "It's not safe!"

"That's not stopping you. Tell me what's going on."

"There's nothing you can do," The Doctor says. "Go back."

"Look, whoever they are, they could've taken Lazlo, couldn't they?"

"Tallulah, you're not safe down here."

"Then that's my problem. Come on. Which way?" Tallulah walks down a tunnel to the left. The Doctor sighs and says, "This way." We go down the tunnel to the right and Tallulah follows.

* * *

><p>"When you say, 'They've gone', who's they exactly? And who are you anyway? I never asked."<p>

"Shh."

"Okay, okay."

"Shh, shh, shh." In the weak light of the tunnel in front of us, the shadow of a Dalek is approaching. No. This can't be happening. The Dalek passes by without seeing us. I suddenly get on my knees and start sobbing. Why? Why do they get everything? Why do they always live? "No, Rose," The Doctor says, steeping to my level and holding me. "Don't cry-"

"Why do they always live?" I say, sobbing at the same time. "Why?"

"That metal thing?" Tallulah asks. "What was it?"

"It's called a Dalek. And it's not just metal, it's alive." Tallulah laughs. "You're kidding me."

"Does it look like I'm kidding? Do you think Rose is just crying over nothing?" He turns on her and she sobers. "Inside that shell is a creature born to hate, whose only thought is to destroy everything and everyone that isn't a Dalek too. It won't stop until it's killed every human being alive."

"But if it's not a human being, that kinda implies it's from outer space." The Doctor looks at her and her eyes widen. "Yet again, that's a 'no' with the kidding. Boy... Well, what's it doin' here, in New York?"

"Every second you two are down here, you're in danger. I'm taking you back right now." We turn a corner to see a pig man. Tallulah screams and the pig man tries to hide. "Where's Frank?" The Doctor says, approaching it. "What have you done with him? What have you done with Frank?"

"I didn't take him." Oh, my god, it can talk. "Can you remember your name?" The Doctor asks, unable to keep the surprise from his voice."

"Don't look at me." I move forward. "Do you know where Frank is?"

"Stay back! Don't look at me!"

"What happened to you?" The Doctor moves forward so he can see the pig's whole face. "They made me a monster."

"Who did?"

"The masters."

"The Daleks," I say, unable to keep the malice from my voice. "Why?"

"They needed slaves. They needed slaves to steal more people so they created us. Part animal, part human. I escaped before they got my mind, but it was still too late."

"Do you know what happened to Frank?" The Doctor asks.

"They took him."

"Were you in the theatre?" Tallulah asks. The pig man moves his head a bit so he can see her. "Yes."

"Why? Why were you there?"

"I never wanted you to see me like this."

"Why me? What do I gotta do with this? Were you following me? Is that why you were there?" The pig man moves to face Tallulah and I. He's more man than pig. "Yes."

"Who are you?"

"I was lonely."

"Who are you?" Tallulah starts to move forward. "I needed to see you?"

"Who are you?" Tallulah says, more urgency in her voice. "I'm sorry." The pig man turns away from her but she grabs his arm. "No, wait. Let me look at you." She places him under the light. "Lazlo?" He nods. Oh my god. "My Lazlo?" Her voice breaks. "Oh, what have they done to you?"

"I'm sorry. So sorry."

"Lazlo," The Doctor starts, "Can you show me where they are?"

"They'll kill you."

"If I don't stop them they'll kill everyone."

"Then follow me."

* * *

><p>"They're divided into two groups," Lazlo explains. We watch Frank and all the other hostages with the Daleks. "High intelligence and low intelligence. The intelligence are taken to become pig slaves like me."<p>

"Well, that's not fair!" Tallulah says.

"Shh!" The Doctor says but she goes on in whispers. "You're the smartest guy I ever dated."

"And the others?" I ask.

"They're taken to the laboratory."

"What for?"

"I don't know. The masters only call it the Final... Experiment." The Dalek is scanning Frank. "Superior. Intelligence. This. One. Will. Become. Part. Of. The. Final. Experiment."

"Look out!" The Doctor whispers, "They're moving!" The Doctor and I flatten ourselves against the wall. Lazlo takes Tallulah and heads down the tunnel. "Doctor. Rose. Quickly!"

"We're not going. I've got an idea. You go." Tallulah leaves after a while and Lazlo comes back. The Daleks pass by and the Doctor falls in line, me after him and Lazlo after me. "Just keep walking." The Doctor says to Frank.

"Doctor! I'm glad to see you! And Rose!"

"Yeah, well, you can kiss me later. Rose, I definitely want a kiss later." It's hard not to laugh.

* * *

><p>We are brought into a massive lab, with Dalek stuff everywhere. "Report."<p>

"Dalek. Sec. Is. In. The. Final. Stage. Of. Evolution."

"Scan. Him. Prepare. For. Birth."

"Evolution?" The Doctor asks.

"What's happening?" Frank asks.

"Ask them."

"What, me? Don't be daft."

"Rose and I don't exactly want to get noticed. Ask them what's going on." Frank takes a deep breath before stepping out in front of the Daleks. He takes a deep breath and says, "Daleks, what is happening?"

"You. Will. Bear. Witness!"

"To what?"

"This. Is. The. Dawn. Of. A. New. Age."

"What does that mean?"

"We. Are. The. Only. Four. Daleks. So. The. Species. Must. Evolve. A. Life. Outside. The. Shell. The. Children. Of. Skaro. Must. Walk. Again." Dalek Sec's shell powers down and the casing opens to reveal a human, with Ood like tentacles, one eye and claw-like hands. "What is it?" Frank asks.

"I. Am. A Human. Dalek. I. Am. Your Future!"

* * *

><p><strong>AN - **don't favourite/alert this story without reviewing


	10. X

**A/N - **this is another filler chapter, giving spoilers for what I'm doing next chapter

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><p><em>x. this is how i died<em>

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><p>It started when I met the Doctor. He saved me in the basement of my workplace, Henriks. Then he blew the place up. I saw him the next day, and a week after that. Then he took me along in his trips to the stars in his unbelievably beautiful machine called the TARDIS.<p>

And we never stopped. We've been travelling ever since.

Then we met Captain Jack Harkness, and then we went to Satellite 5. And I almost died. The Doctor sent me home because it was so dangerous. And I came back. As the Bad Wolf.

And I saved my love.

At least, that's what the Doctor told me. I didn't wake up until he regenerated from a big eared man in his forties at least into a sexy man with brown hair. And we went home to Christmas and he collapses. I thought he left me! But, he didn't. He was back, better than ever! And, if that was even possible, I fell more in love with him than I already had.

So we were travelling again. I met Sarah-Jane. Mickey came with us for a time but then he stayed in a parallel universe. I cried, but then I got over it.

But then came the battle of Canary Wharf. And I lost my mum to another universe.

At least she's happy now. I got to say goodbye to her one last time.

And then the bride came on board the TARDIS, and then we met Martha Jones, and we never stopped. And the Doctor and I confessed our love to each other, and we got together. And then the TARDIS materialised in New York, right in front of the Statue of Liberty, and then came the mystery of Hooverville, and then the Daleks.

My name is Rose Tyler. And this is how I died.

* * *

><p><strong>AN - **don't favourite/alert this story without reviewing


	11. XI

**A/N - **this chapter is a rewrite of Evolution Of The Daleks

* * *

><p><em>xi. evolution of the daleks<em>

* * *

><p>"These. Humans. Will. Become. Like. Me!" The... thing says. "Prepare. Them. For. Hybridisation." A pig slave takes hold of me and I struggle. Stupid things. "Leave me alone!" I scream. Where the hell is the Doctor? "Don't you dare!" A song begins playing and everyone stops, leaving me to get out of the pig slave's hold. "What. Is. That. Sound?" The thing asks. The Doctor steps out, a radio in his hands. "That would be me." He sets the radio down on a laboratory bench. "Hello. Surprise. Boo. Et cetera." Took him bloody long enough.<p>

"Doctor."

"The. Enemy. Of. The. Daleks!" One Dalek says.

"Exterminate!"

"Wait!" The thing says. I raise my eyebrows apprehensively. "Well then," The Doctor says. "A new form of Dalek." He walks forward. "Fascinating and very clever."

"The. Cult. Of. Skaro. Escaped. Your. Slaughter!"

"How did you end up in 1930?"

"Emergency. Temporal. Shift." The Doctor scoffs, "Oh, that must have roasted up your power cells, yeah?" He strides away, looking about. "Time was, four Daleks could have conquered the world but instead your skulking away, hidden in the dark, experimenting, all of which results in you."

"At least there's only four," I point out. All the Daleks look at me. Oops. "Rose. Tyler!" The thing says.

"Leave her alone." The Doctor says, stepping in front of me.

"I. Am. Dalek. In. Human. Form. I. May. Look. Human. But. I'm. As. Emotionless. As. A. Dalek!" You don't look anything like human, I'm tempted to say. Idiot Dalek. Do we humans look like an Ood?

"What does it feel like? You can talk to me, Dalek Sec. It is Dalek Sec, isn't it? That's your name? You've got a name and a mind of your own. Tell me what you're thinking right now."

"I... feel... humanity..."

"Good. That's good."

"I. Feel. Everything. We. Wanted. From. Mankind. Which. Is. Ambition. Hatred. Aggression. And. War. Such... A. Genius. For. War!"

"No, that's not what humanity means."

"I. Think. It. Does! At. Heart. This. Species. Is. So. Very... Dalek." The Doctor glares at it before going on. "All right, so what have you achieved then? With this Final Experiment, eh? Nothing! 'Cause I can show you what you're missing with this thing." He points at the radio. "Simple little radio."

"What is the purpose of that device?"

"Well, exactly. It plays music. What's the point of that? Oh, with music, you can dance to it, sing with it, fall in love to it," He looks at me when he says that and I smile. "Unless you're a Dalek of course. Then it's just NOISE!" He aims the sonic at the radio and a high pitched wail comes from it. "Run!" We run away, the pig slaves trying to get to us as we do so.

* * *

><p>I lead the prisoners through the sewers, Frank running next to me. We stop, unsure of where to go. The Doctor rushes past. "Come on! Move!" We keep on running, following him. Tallulah's just near us, so the Doctor calls to her. "And you, Tallulah! Run!"<p>

"What happened to Lazlo?" She asks, bewildered. I grab her and she starts running with us. We find a ladder and the Doctor stops and says, "C'mon! Everyone up!" All the prisoners go up, and then Frank, Tallulah, me and then the Doctor. He closes the lid to the sewer shut and sonics it down. I wipe my head. That was too bloody close.

* * *

><p>We gather around the main fire, and Tallulah and I sit on crates across from Solomon, the Doctor and Frank standing up behind me. "These Daleks," Solomon says, "They sound like the stuff of nightmares. And they wanna breed?"<p>

"They're splicing themselves into human bodies. If I'm right, they've got a farm of breeding stock right here in Hooverville. We've got to get everyone out."

"Hooverville's the lowest place a man can fall. There's nowhere else to go."

"I'm sorry, Solomon, but you've got to scatter. Go anywhere. Down to the railroads. Travel across state, just get out of New York!"

"There's got to be a way to reason with these things."

"There's not a chance." I say.

"You ain't seen 'em, boss," Frank adds.

"Solomon, they took my mum and my best friend away from me. They're emotionless and merciless. They don't care about anything that isn't Dalek."

"Daleks are bad enough at any time," The Doctor says, "But right now they're vulnerable and that makes them more dangerous than ever." We hear a whistle in the distance and frightened screaming. "A sentry." Solomon explains, standing up. "Must have seen something." A man comes running down the hill. "They're here! I seen 'em! Monsters! They're monsters!"

"It's started," The Doctor says.

"We're under attack!" Solomon says and I stand up. "Everyone to arms!" The men start passing out weapons they had collected. But some of the residents run off. "Come back! We gotta stick together! It's not safe out there! Come back!" One man passes me a weapon and I push it away. I don't do weapons. And it was a shovel. I don't think it's going to go well against a Dalek. "We need to get out of the park," I say.

"We can't," The Doctor says. "They're on all sides. They're driving people back towards us."

"We're trapped!" Tallulah says.

"Then we stand together," Solomon says. "Gather 'round. Everybody come to me. You there, Jethro, Harry, Seamus, stay together." The pig slaves have forced everyone into a tight circle by the fire. "They can't take all of us." Solomon starts fighting and the others with guns to so as well.

"Where are the Daleks?" I ask.

"Oh, Rose, like they'd miss the party," The Doctor says. I look up to the sky, and there is...

A Dalek.

Great. I had to say that, didn't I?

"What in the world-"

"It's the devil!" Solomon gets interrupted by a resident of Hooverville. "A devil in the sky. God save us all, it's damnation!"

"Oh yeah?" Frank asks. "We'll see about that!" Frank fires at the Dalek but, of course, the bullets do no damage. The Doctor pushes his rifle down.

"That's not gonna work."

"There's more that one of them," I murmur. Another one appears in the sky. "Oh, god." The Daleks begin to attack, firing upon Hooverville, causing explosions and fires of massive proportions.

"THE. HUMANS. WILL. SURRENDER!"

"Leave them alone!" The Doctor screams. "They've done nothing to you!" Solomon steps forward and grabs him by the arm. "No, Solomon. Stay back."

"I'm told that I'm addressin' the Daleks, is that right? From what I hear, you're outcasts too."

"Solomon, don't."

"Doctor, this is my township, you will respect my authority. Just let me try."

"Please Solomon!" I scream. He pushes the Doctor and I away. I hug the Doctor to me because I know what's going to happen.

Bloody Daleks. I hate them more than I've hated anything else.

"Daleks... ain't we all the same? Underneath, ain't we all kin?" He sets his rifle on the ground. "'Cause, see, I've just discovered this past day that God's universe is a thousand times the size I thought it was. And that scares me. Oh, yeah. Terrifies me. Right down to the bone. But it's got to give me hope... hope that maybe together we can make a better tomorrow. So I... I beg you now if you have any compassion in your hearts then you'll meet with us and _stop this fight._ Well, what do you say?"

"Exterminate!" One Dalek fires upon Solomon, killing him. No. This cannot be happening.

"Oh, no!" Frank screams and all of Hooverville scream. Frank rushes to Solomon's side. "No! Solomon!"

"They killed him," I say. "They just shot him on the spot."

"Daleks!" The Doctor screams, pissed off. "All right, so it's my turn! Then kill me! Kill me if it'll stop you attacking these people!"

"NO!" I scream, but Tallulah holds me back. "You can't!" From what I've seen today, the Daleks are more dangerous than ever. They're going to kill him this time. "Get off me, Tallulah!" Tallulah doesn't loosen her grip.

"I. Will. Be. The. Destroyer. Of. Our. Greatest. Enemy!"

"Then do it! Do it! Just do it!" He beats on his chest. "Do it!"

"Don't!" I sob.

"Extermin-" I shut my eyes, but there's no gun shot. "I. Do. Not. Understand. It. Is. The. Doctor!" The Doctor looks towards me, sorrow in his eyes. I look back at him, with the same ferocity. "The. Urge. To. Kill. Is. Too. Strong!" The Doctor mouths the words, I'm Sorry at me. I just shake my head and jut it towards the Dalek. "I... Obey."

"What's going on?" The Doctor asks.

"You. Will. Follow."

"No!" I scream, finally loose of Tallulah's grip. "You can't go!"

"I've got to go. The Daleks just changed their minds. Daleks _never_ change their minds."

"But what about me?" The Doctor looks at the Dalek. "One condition! If I come with you, you spare the lives of everyone here. Including Rose Tyler. Do you hear me?"

"The. Humans. Will. Be. Spared. Doctor... Follow!"

"Then I'm coming with you." I say. "Please Doctor!" I grab the lapels of his suit jacket. "Please."

"Rose, you have to stay here. You can help everyone here. Please, do that for me." He bends his head and kisses me. I kiss back with ferocity and euphoria of what we had. He breaks away and looks at me. "Can I just say, thank you. So very much. I love you." The Doctor grips my hand with both of his and winks. What? As he walks off, I see that he's given me his...

Psychic paper?

* * *

><p>I'm applying a bandage to a man's arm when Tallulah walks in with a pot of water. "Here you go, I got some more on the boil."<p>

"Thanks." I turn back to the man. "You'll be all right. It's just a cut. Try and keep it clean."

"Thanks." The man leaves and Tallulah leans against the wall next to me.

"So what about us? What do we do now?"

"The Doctor gave me this. He must have had a reason. I've known the Doctor for three years, he always has a reason. Unless there's Converse involved. Seriously, who wears Converse with a suit?" We chuckle. I pull out the psychic paper.

"What's that for?"

"Psychic paper. Shows people that are not just fake, but perfection. Can get you into places. The question is, what does he want us to get into?"

* * *

><p>Inside Solomon's tent, Tallulah and I are searching through papers. "Wait a minute." I say and Tallulah stops. "Down in the sewers, the Daleks mentioned this... energy conductor. Or something or other..."<p>

"What does that mean?"

"I don't know. Maybe like a, lighting conductor or... Dalekanium!" Yes, it's genius! I think...

"Oh."

"They said the Dalekanium was in place."

"In place where?"

"Frank might know."

"He's just outside the tent." We walk out of the tent to see Frank sitting on a few logs, grieving.

"Frank?"

"Hm?" Frank asks, cleaning his face.

"That Mr Diagoras, he was like some sort of fixer, yeah? Get you jobs all over town?"

"Yeah. He could find a profit anywhere."

"But where, though? What sort of things? And why does he do it for the people of Hooverville?"

"I don't know. He does everything. You name it! We're all so desperate for work, you just hoped Diagoras would pick you for something good. Building work. That pays the best."

"But what sort of building work?"

"Mainly building that." He points towards the Empire State Building. Oh...

* * *

><p>Tallulah, Frank and I are standing in the service lift of the Empire State Building. It's pretty old, you can see. "I always wanted to go to the Empire State," I say. "All that glitz and glamour. Never imagined it quite like this, though."<p>

"Where are we headed anyway?" Frank asks.

"To the top where they're still building."

"How come those guys just let us through? How's that thing work?"

"Psychic paper. Shows them whatever I want them to think. According to this, we're two engineers and an architect." Frank takes the psychic paper and flips the empty paper over in his hands.

* * *

><p>We enter the top floor, the room that Diagoras had obviously been using as an office. It's not finished yet, there's only three walls and you can see right down to New York through empty space. "Look at this place," Tallulah says. "Top of the world." I spot architectural plans.<p>

"Okay, now this looks good. Let's take a look over here." God, I'm starting to sound like the Doctor. Frank joins me and we have a look through the designs.

"Hey," Frank automatically picks something up mentally. "Look at the date. These designs were issued today. They must've changed somethin' last minute."

"You mean the Daleks changed something?"

"Yeah, could be."

"The ones underneath, they're from before. That means that whatever they changed must be on this top sheet but not this one, yeah? We need to check one against the other."

"The height of this place!" We turn around to see Tallulah near the edge of the floor before it's just construction work. "This is amazing!"

"Careful, we're a hundred floors up. Don't go wandering off."

"I just wanna see." I turn back to the designs. There's got to be something I'm missing. The question is, what?

* * *

><p>I have the plans spread out on the floor and I'm kneeling, studying them. It's like a game of spot the difference, except millions of lives are on the line. Frank and Tallulah are standing nearby. "I'll got and keep an eye out," Frank says. "Make sure we're safe up here. Don't want nobody buttin' in." Tallulah comes and stands near me.<p>

"There's a hell of a storm movin' in."

"I wish the Doctor was here. He'd know what we're looking for."

"So tell me, where did you and him first hook up?"

"He saved me. Basically, I got caught by show window dummies in the basement of my workplace. One of the best days of my life. I just didn't know it then."

"You're a nutta', you know that?" Tallulah kneels beside me.

"Thanks Tallulah."

"Oi, I'm just tellin' the truth!" I nod. "That Doctor of yours, he's really different, isn't he?"

"Oh, you have no idea how different he really is."

"Yeah, he's a man, sweetheart. That's different enough."

"He's all I ever wanted. I just wish that my mum could see how in love we are."

"Where is she?" Why did I even bring up my mum?

"Gone. Stuck somewhere and she can't get back. It's..." I'm lost for words. "I wish my mum was here to see the Doctor and I. There's no point loving someone if you can't go home and tell your mum."

"Aw, listen sweetheart. You wanna get all sad? You wanna have a contest with me and Lazlo?"

"No," I say hurriedly. "But listen, if the Doctor's with Lazlo now, there's every chance that he could get him out."

"And then what? Don't talk crazy. There's no future for me and him. Those Dalek things took that away. The one good thing I had in my life and they destroyed it." She stands up and walks away.

* * *

><p>"Gotcha!" I exclaim. I found it! "Look!" Tallulah comes to have a look at the plans. "There, on the mast. Those little lines? They're new. They've added something, see?"<p>

"Added what?" Ohhh. We figure it out at the same time and look at each other.

"Dalekanium!"

The lift doors open and we turn to see the Doctor and Lazlo. "Doctor!" I squeal.

"First floor, perfumery." I lead him over to the plans. I'm using all my self-control not to snog him right now.

"We worked it out. We know what they've done. There's Dalekanium on the mast. And it's good to see you too, by the way."

"Oh, come here." He grabs me and pulls me up for a kiss. It's less passionate then before, but I'm not complaining. We hear the lift bell ding and he drops me and runs to the lift. "No, no, no. See, never waste time with a kiss." He must of seen my angry face because then he says, "Unless it's Rose Tyler, and you should always waste time on a kiss." He uses a sonic screwdriver on the panel. "It's a deadlock seal. I can't stop it."

"Where's it going?"

"Right down to the Daleks. And they're not going to leave us alone up here. What's the time?"

"11:15," Frank says, checking his old-fashioned watch.

"Six minutes to go. I've got to remove the Dalekanium before the gamma radiation hits."

"Gammon radiation?" Tallulah asks, a puzzled expression on her face as she holds Lazlo. "What the heck is that?" I lead the Doctor outside, the others following.

"Oh, that's high. That's very- blimey, that's high."

"And we've got to go even higher!" I say. "That's the mast up there, look. There's three pieces of Dalekanium up there. I think... Anyway, we've got to get 'em off."

"That's not 'we', that's just 'me'." Hell. To. The. Nizzy. No!

"I won't just stand here and watch you. I can't."

"No, you're gonna have your hands full, anyway. I'm sorry, Rose, but you've got to fight."

"But, I can't. You've changed me so much that I can't fight without feeling guilty. So, no."

"Rose," He takes hold of my hand. "You need to do this for me." He brushes my face with his fingers and kisses me softly. I don't care that the others are there, I just kiss him back. He breaks from the kiss and runs up the stairs.

"I love you," I mutter to myself after he's left.

* * *

><p>We've made makeshift weapons and we are facing the lift. I look at the old-fashioned lift... thingy at the top of the door and the lift is slowly rising. "The lift's coming up." I say.<p>

"I shoulda' brought that gun," Frank says.

"Tallulah, stay back," Lazlo says, pushing Tallulah behind him. "You too, Rose. If they send pig slaves, they're trained to kill."

"The Doctor needs me to fight. I'm not going anywhere!" Things can change with a kiss.

"They're savages. I should know, they're trained to slit your throat with their bare teeth." He suddenly collapses to the floor.

"Lazlo? What is it?" Tallulah says, kneeling to his level. Lazlo struggles to stand.

"No, it's nothing. I'm fine. Just leave me." He falls back to the floor and leans against the wall. Tallulah kneels beside him once more and puts her hand to his forehead.

"Oh, honey, you're burnin' up! What's wrong with you? Tell me." Yeah, what is happening? Frank and I turn back to the approaching lift.

"One man down and we ain't even started yet," Frank says to me.

"It's not looking good, Frank."

"Nope." I hear the storm and...

Hold on. That might just work.

Good old Ben! "Wait a minute," I say. "Lightning." I run over to the other end of the room. See, the Doctor said Benjamin Franklin got electrocuted my lightning using a kite, maybe, just maybe, we could get the lightning from the lightning strike to the lift doors so the pigs get electrocuted! It's genius!

I'm good.

* * *

><p>"What the hell are you two clowns doin'?" Tallulah screams from where she's comforting Lazlo.<p>

"Even if the Doctor stops the Dalekanium, this place is still gonna get hit. Great big bolt of lightning, electricity all down this building. Connect this to the lift, and they get zapped!"

"Oh my god, that could work!"

"Then give us a hand," Frank says, holding one metal rod to himself. Tallulah runs over. Within thirty seconds, we finish.

"Is that gonna work?" Tallulah asks.

"It's got to."

"I've got it all piped up to the scaffolding outside," Frank says.

"Come here, Frank and sit in the middle and don't touch anything metal." We huddle in the corner of the room. Suddenly, one of the metal rods fall over. I quickly run over and fix it, quickly. The lift doors ping open and the pigs are here.

And then I painfully get electrocuted.

And that was when I died.

* * *

><p><strong>AN - **don't favourite/alert this story without reviewing


	12. XII

**A/N - **this story is ending, but read the sequel, Wolf And Storm!

* * *

><p><em>xii. <em>_epilogue_

* * *

><p>In one universe, Rose Tyler was trapped.<p>

Somehow, she didn't escape the pulls of the Void and fell in, trying to save her beloved Doctor. She was lucky that her father from another universe was there to catch her and take her to another universe. But, the two time travelling partners were separated. From then on, the Doctor met a bride, and Rose saw...

Nothing.

There was nothing in the dark and hopelessness of her new universe. There was no Doctor, no travelling, no saving the universe from evils. No, it was just get up, work, go home, have chips, watch telly, go to bed, every _single_ day. She worked at Torchwood, high up, and then she knew what to do.

Rose Marion Tyler was a fighter. She was going to find her way back to the Doctor.

Of course, it wouldn't be easy, she'd have to get through everyone else at Torchwood, find the way to do it, and... well, apart from that, it was easy.

So, the plans for the Dimension Cannon started. And two years later, when the walls between the worlds were breaking and the stars were going out, Rose Tyler left the universe she had lived in for two years, alongside her mother and her ex-boyfriend and best friend.

And the two time travelling lovers were united.

They didn't kiss, a Dalek made sure of that. They didn't tell each other they loved each other, a Dalek invasion and a certain metacrisis of the Doctor made sure of that. So, Rose Tyler was trapped once again, in a parallel universe with a Doctor who wasn't the Doctor.

Five years the metacrisis and Rose's relationship lasted. Five very long years. Rose wanted her Doctor, not some faux human one.

One day, passing a cliff, she got out of her car. The metacrisis and her had fought the previous night, and it was getting too hard to handle.

She jumped.

It wasn't until five metres from the bottom she realised she was jumping off a cliff into Bad Wolf Bay.

In another universe, Rose Tyler stayed with the Doctor. They travelled, met the same bride and met Martha Jones. But then they were alone again.

But then came the battle in old New York. The Daleks returned.

And Rose Tyler died. It was noble, but stupid.

But then she woke up.

Well, that's a whole different story.

* * *

><p><strong>AN - **don't favourite/alert this story without reviewing


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